FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Arab States: Islam

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect of sectarian divisions between Sunni and Shia Muslims on political reform and democratisation within Arab states in the Gulf.

Alistair Burt: I am concerned about increasing sectarian tensions in the Gulf. We are monitoring the situation across the Gulf. The UK supports reform efforts throughout the region that include all sections of society.

Bahrain: Human Rights

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Government of Bahrain on the subject of human rights.

Alistair Burt: We have repeatedly raised the issue of human rights with the Bahraini Government and will continue to do so to ensure all human rights obligations are being met. Political freedoms, equal access to justice and the rule of law must all be upheld; these do not run contrary to security, but are integral to long-term stability.

Egypt: Politics and Government

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to encourage the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in Egypt to comply with the Camp David accords.

Alistair Burt: We have made clear publicly and privately with Egyptian interlocutors that we welcome statements made since February 2011, reaffirming Egypt's commitment to its international treaty obligations including the Camp David Accords. The accords are a cornerstone of regional peace and we encourage both sides to abide by their terms. Our priority remains a comprehensive negotiated solution to the middle east peace process.

Iceland: Debts

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what sanctions are available to the Government in its pursuit of the repayment of debts owed to UK businesses, local authorities and individuals by the Icelandic government.

Mark Hoban: I have been asked to reply.
	Retail depositors of Icelandic banks have received their funds in full via the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (acting in part as the agent for HM Treasury). The claims of other creditors are being considered under Icelandic insolvency law. That process is ongoing.

Libya: Human Rights

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with leaders of the Libyan National Transitional Council on the treatment of (a) civilians generally and (b) persons of sub-Saharan origin.

Alistair Burt: During his recent visit to Tripoli, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), raised reports about the treatment of detainees, including those of sub-Saharan origin, with National Transitional Council (NTC) Chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil, and urged him to take action to prevent abuses of human rights. The NTC have stressed their commitment to uphold human rights law and have already begun investigations into these reports.

Libya: Politics and Government

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what advice his Department is providing to the Libyan authorities on the security situation in that country.

William Hague: The UK is working closely with the National Transitional Council on a number of security issues in Libya, including providing technical advice through a senior police adviser deployed to Libya, equipment for the police and assistance in collecting and securing Man-Portable Air Defense Systems.

Middle East: Natural Gas

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the likelihood of the restoration of gas supplies from Egypt to Israel; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: We have received no reports on the likelihood of the restoration of gas supplies from Egypt to Israel.

Middle East: Pipelines

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has discussed with his Egyptian counterpart the recent bombings of the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has not discussed the recent bombings of the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline with his counterpart. However, we remain concerned about recent security incidents in the Sinai, and we welcome the statement by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on 12 February and subsequently that Egypt would abide by all its regional and international treaty obligations.

Middle East: Pipelines

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance the Government can provide to the governments of (a) Egypt and (b) Israel in respect of reopening the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline.

Alistair Burt: We have not offered any assistance to the Egyptian or Israeli Governments in respect of reopening the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline, and have no current plans to do so. However, we will continue to express our concern about the impact of security incidents on stability in the region.

Palestinians: Prisoners

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on hunger strikes by Palestinians in prison in Israel; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: We are aware that Palestinian prisoners have been on hunger strike since 27 September. This was suspended for three days while awaiting confirmation that the Israeli Prison Service will officially end its policy on punitive isolation. Other demands, including education, seem to have been met as part of the prisoner exchange deal on 18 October.
	The UK is continuing to monitor closely the situation with regard to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Palestinian prisoners should have access to a fair trial, and Israel should ensure that it treats detainees in accordance with international law. We continue to raise our concerns with the Israeli authorities and to issue statements when appropriate.

Palestinians: Recognition of States

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of progress at the UN on the application by the Palestinian Authority for recognition as a state.

Alistair Burt: President Abbas submitted the Palestinian application for full membership of the UN on 23 September. No vote is imminent in the Security Council, while the membership committee considers its recommendation. So far we have not been presented with a detailed proposal on which to take a position. Whether the committee returns the issue to the Security Council, or whether President Abbas decides to turn to the General Assembly, the UK will use its vote in a way which increases the likelihood of a return to meaningful negotiations.
	The UK's position on recognition of a Palestinian state is clear: a Palestinian state is a legitimate goal, and the best way of achieving this is through a comprehensive agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. The UK has deliberately reserved its position on the question of recognition of Palestinian statehood while we continue to urge all parties back to talks. Withholding our position in this way, along with other European partners, maintains the pressure on both sides to show the flexibility needed to enable a return to negotiations.

Sri Lanka: Politics and Government

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received of the state of (a) emergency and (b) anti-terrorism laws in Sri Lanka.

Alistair Burt: We welcome the end of the state of emergency in Sri Lanka, but it remains unclear what this means in practice. The Sri Lankan Government have amended the Prevention of Terrorism Act to replace some of the powers that lapsed. We are especially concerned about the practice of prolonged detention without charge.
	I raised these concerns when I met the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister on 23 September in New York. Our high commission in Colombo will continue to monitor the situation and to pursue this issue with the Government of Sri Lanka.

Western Sahara: Fisheries

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will ask the European Commission to conduct an inquiry into whether the local Saharawi population has benefited from the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement.

Alistair Burt: During the negotiations for a new Protocol to the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership agreement, which began in December 2010, we requested evidence from the Commission on the socio-economic impact of the agreement in Western Sahara. Morocco submitted information to the Commission but we were unable to determine from that information whether or not the people of Western Sahara had benefited. We continue to press for more information to be made available.

WALES

Adam Werritty

Peter Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many times she met Mr Adam Werritty on official occasions.

Cheryl Gillan: No such meetings have taken place.

Departmental Travel

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much her Department has spent on first class travel by (a) air, (b) boat and (c) train since May 2010.

David Jones: Nothing. In May 2010, the Wales Office introduced a ban on all first class travel. As a result of that policy we cut costs by 53% and saved over £91,000 in 2010-11.

Offences Against Children

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on legislation on the smacking of children in Wales.

David Jones: The Secretary of State for Wales, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan) and I have regular discussions with Welsh Government Ministers on a wide range of issues but we have not discussed legislation on the smacking of children in Wales. No legislation is being proposed at this stage and the Welsh Government have confirmed that it will not be bringing forward any legislation on this matter before the next Assembly election.

PRIME MINISTER

Departmental Voluntary Work

Paul Flynn: To ask the Prime Minister what volunteering he has undertaken as part of the One Day Challenge; what the nature of the work undertaken was; on what dates it took place; and what the names were of the organisations assisted.

David Cameron: I have committed to the 'One Day Challenge' and I have undertaken work with various volunteering organisations, including “Street League” and “The Challenge Network”.

Government Departments: Data Protection

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Prime Minister if he will order a review of Government document security.

David Cameron: Guidance on Government document security is available on the Cabinet Office website:
	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/security-policy-framework

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Animal Welfare

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect on animal welfare of the commercial breeding of dogs and cats.

James Paice: Under the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 all breeders of dogs and cats are required to breed dogs and cats in a way that takes account of welfare needs and does not cause an animal to suffer. The effectiveness of this Act has recently been reviewed and the findings submitted to the Efra Select Committee. In addition, under the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973, commercial breeding establishments have to be licensed.

Cheese

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effect of the recent growth of the cheese industry on the economy.

James Paice: UK cheese production increased by 5% in 2010 compared with 2009 and has continued to rise during 2011. The total value of the cheese market in Great Britain to December 2010 was about £2.5 billion.

Eggs: Origin Marking

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what arrangements her Department has in place to enable the tracing of eggs and egg products back to the farm of origin for the purposes of ensuring compliance with European directives.

James Paice: We are in the process of drawing up an enforcement strategy on how to deal with illegal eggs and egg products from non-complaint producers. I recently met with industry representatives and retailers to discuss enforcement of the cage ban and on how best to take things forward.
	I also met with the commissioner on 20 October to discuss his proposals for action against member states who do not comply on 31 December.
	The British Retail Consortium has publically declared that Britain’s leading food retailers are supporting UK egg producers and that there will be no eggs from Europe which fail to meet the welfare standards on their shelves or in their own-brand products.

Meat: Exports and Imports

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what steps she is taking to increase exports of meat;
	(2)  whether she has any plans to discuss with foreign governments the lifting of restrictions on the importation of British offal products.

James Paice: The Government are taking a number of steps to increase exports of food, including meat and offal.
	The UK Trade and Industry strategy and DEFRA’s business plan both contain commitments. During his recent visit to Russia, the Prime Minister personally placed discussions about lamb and beef exports high on the agenda, illustrating the priority the Government attach to the issue.
	DEFRA works closely with a number of partners to identify and target resources on key market negotiations about animal and public health issues for countries outside the European Union. These partners include industry and foreign governments as well as other Government Departments in the UK. I am delighted to say that exports of meat and meat products rose in the first half of 2011 by 15%.
	The rising figure is the comparison with the same period in 2010.

Sheep: Tagging

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she is having with her EU counterparts to ensure that farmers are not financially penalised due to technological failures of electronic identification for sheep.

James Paice: I have had a number of discussions with EU Commissioner Dalli about our concerns over the ability of electronic reading equipment to capture individual information on every animal sent to central point recording centres (CPRCs), particularly where this could impact on keepers’ single farm payments.
	The commission has since responded to a UK proposal for some flexibility with regard to cross compliance requirements relating to a keeper’s farm records where sheep are electronically read at a CPRC. I am currently considering how to proceed in England.
	The requirements for identification and traceability of sheep are EU obligations, but administration and implementation in their territories is an issue for the devolved Administrations.

HEALTH

Ambulance Services: Suffolk

Daniel Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the average response time was for an ambulance to an emergency call-out in (a) Suffolk, (b) Mid-Suffolk district council area, (c) Babergh district council area and (d) Suffolk Coastal district council area in each year since 1997;
	(2)  how many ambulances in (a) Babergh district council area, (b) Suffolk Coastal district council area and (c) Mid-Suffolk district council area responded to emergency call-outs within (i) eight and (ii) 19 minutes in each year since 1997.

Simon Burns: Information on average ambulance response times and the number of ambulances that have responded to emergency calls in specific locations is not collected centrally.
	Data on performance against ambulance response time targets is collected at ambulance trust level only and is published annually by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care in the statistical bulletin “Ambulance Services England”. These documents are available on the NHS Information Centre for health and social care website at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/audits-and-performance/ambulance
	The areas referred to within the question fall within East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Prior to 2006 East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust was made up of the following ambulance trusts:
	Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Ambulance NHS Trust
	Essex Ambulance NHS Trust
	East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust.
	Data prior to 2004-05 was published by the Department. This data is available back to 1998 on the Department's website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/health/category/publications/reports-publications/

Arthritis: Physiotherapy

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will take steps to ensure that rheumatoid arthritis-related physiotherapy services are not disproportionately affected by plans to make efficiency savings in the NHS;
	(2)  if he will assess the (a) level of uptake and (b) efficacy of referral practice of rheumatoid arthritis-related physiotherapy in England; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: There are no plans to carry out a central assessment of referral practice to physiotherapy in England. It is for local national health service organisations to make their own decisions about routes of referral for physiotherapy, based on which route is clinically appropriate and of value to the health care system and local community.
	Some organisations may include self-referral in their access routes. To help local organisations in making decisions about self-referral, the Department has collaborated with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy to pilot and evaluate self-referral. The pilots identified a number of benefits including earlier presentation and supporting self-care by empowering patients to be more actively involved in managing their condition.
	Information about this project can be found in the “Self-referral pilots to musculoskeletal physiotherapy and the implications for improving access to other AHP services”. This document has already been placed in the Library and is available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_116358.pdf
	The NHS has been asked to make up to £20 billion of efficiency savings by 2014-15 while simultaneously improving the quality of services it provides in order to meet rising demand resulting from an ageing population and new developments in technology and drugs. Local NHS organisations are best placed to decide on how to meet this challenge, according to local circumstances and priorities.
	There have been a number of initiatives to improve access to physiotherapy and other allied health professional services including delivering services more efficiently. The Allied Health Professional Service Improvement Project demonstrated in a range of services, including physiotherapy, how service redesign can improve access and clinical outcomes, and release cost-savings back into the system. Details about this project can be found at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_126840

Breast Cancer: Health Education

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to raise the awareness of women of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer.

Paul Burstow: Improving public awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer and encouraging people to visit their general practitioner (GP) when they have symptoms is a key ambition of “Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer”, published on 12 January. Last year we provided £9 million to support 59 local awareness campaigns to raise awareness of breast, bowel and lung cancer and early indications are that there has been a positive response to the campaigns.
	In June this year we announced that we would be providing £2.5 million to support a further 18 local awareness campaigns, seven of which will seek to raise awareness of breast cancer in women over 70. Survival rates for women with breast cancer in this age range are poorer than in other comparable countries and this is why we are focusing on this area.
	More generally, we encourage all women to be breast aware. The Department has worked with health professionals, patient groups and the voluntary sector to develop a set of key messages for breast cancer that include the signs and symptoms of the disease. These are available on the NHS Choices website and we encourage charities and other stakeholders to use them widely in awareness raising activities. The Department has also published “Be Breast Aware”, a leaflet which advises women to know what changes to look for and report them to their GP as quickly as possible.

Departmental Advertising

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on advertising job vacancies since May 2010.

Simon Burns: The Department has spent £12,063.85 on advertising job vacancies since May 2010.

Health Professions

Daniel Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure health and wellbeing boards take account of the experience and expertise of allied health professionals in their work; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: Beyond the minimum membership set out in the Health and Social Care Bill, local authorities and health and wellbeing boards will be able to invite other members with particular skills and expertise, including representatives of the allied health professions.
	The membership of health and wellbeing boards should be determined locally. Too much prescription would prevent local membership from being determined in a way that reflects local needs and priorities.

Health Services: Armed Forces

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what services are available to armed forces personnel to assist them in dealing with alcohol abuse or other alcohol-related problems following their discharge from service.

Simon Burns: My hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) in his report, ‘Fighting Fit’, made a number of recommendations in relation to access to mental health services. The Department of Health, working with the NHS armed forces networks, Combat Stress and others have put in place a number of initiatives aimed at improving access to mental health services for veterans. These include a 24-hour helpline through Combat Stress (working with Rethink), and an increase in the number of mental health professionals conducting veterans outreach, assessment and referral work (also with Combat Stress), set up a pilot of Big White Wall—an early intervention service for service personnel, veterans and families and launched an e-learning package for general practitioners with the Royal College of General Practitioners. In all of these areas, alcohol misuse is a key issue.
	In addition to these veteran specific initiatives, most, areas of England have access to the full range of alcohol treatment services including advice and information, counselling and therapy, medical detoxification (both in the community and in-patient when necessary), and rehabilitation services (both residential and in the community day treatment services), as defined in the Department's best practice guidance ‘Models of Care for Alcohol Misusers’ published in June 2006. A copy has already been placed in the Library.
	Most areas operate a “stepped care” model where new patients are assessed, and initially receive the least intensive or prolonged intervention considered suitable for the level of need and complexity identified.

Health Services: Respiratory System

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the provision of ventilation machines and related equipment for patients with muscle-wasting diseases who experience respiratory difficulties; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: Local health bodies have responsibility for ensuring adequate provision of ventilation machines and other health services are made available to those living with neuromuscular conditions.

Health: Finance

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria his Department plans to use in distributing public health funding to local authorities as a consequence of his proposals to transfer responsibility for public health.

Anne Milton: The distribution of funding to local authorities for their planned new public health responsibilities will allow them to improve the health of their population and to reduce health inequalities. The independent Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA) has been asked to develop the details of a formula to meet this objective. ACRA's criteria include transparency, technical robustness and compatibility with objectives.

Hospitals: Admissions

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on unplanned emergency admissions to hospital for people with neuromuscular conditions in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: Information on the cost of unplanned emergency admissions to hospital for people with neuromuscular conditions is not collected centrally.

Hospitals: Admissions

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many emergency admissions there were to the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust in each year since 1997.

Simon Burns: The number of emergency admissions by finished admission episode in Brighton and Sussex University NHS Trust, 2002-03 to 2009-10 and Brighton Healthcare NHS Trust and Mid Sussex NHS Trust, 1997-98 to 2001-02 is in the following table.
	
		
			  Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Brighton Healthcare NHS Trust Mid Sussex NHS Trust 
			 2009-10 41,844 — — 
			 2008-09 44,970 — — 
			 2007-08 38,893 — — 
			 2006-07 33,815 — — 
			 2005-06 29,994 — — 
			 2004-05 31,335 — — 
			 2003-04 30,244 — — 
			 2002-03 25,406 — — 
			 2001-02 — 19,831 6,976 
			 2000-01 — 20,023 7,524 
			 1999-2000 — 19,931 8,100 
			 1998-99 — 19,930 8,133 
			 1997-98 — 19,905 7,365 
			 Notes: 1. In 2002-03, Brighton Healthcare NHS Trust and Mid Sussex NHS Trust merged to become Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust. 2. Figures relating to years 1998-99 to present have been taken from the published annual publications available on: http://www.hesonline.nhs.uk The figures provided relating to 1997-98 were not previously published. 3. It should be noted that these data should not be described as a count of people as the same person may have been admitted on more than one occasion. 4. Activity includes activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector. 5. A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. Emergency admissions include: Emergency: via Accident and Emergency (A&E) services, including the casualty department of the provider Emergency: via general practitioner (GP) Emergency: via Bed Bureau, including the Central Bureau Emergency: via consultant out-patient clinic Emergency: other means, including patients who arrive via the A&E department of another health care provider 6. Hospital providers can also include treatment centres (TC). Normally, if data are tabulated by health care provider, the figure for an NHS trust gives the activity of all the sites as one aggregated figure. However, in the case of those with embedded treatment centres, these data are quoted separately. In these cases, '-X' is appended to the code for the rest of the trust, to remind users that the figures are for all sites of the trust excluding the treatment centres. The quality of TC returns are such that data may not be complete. Some NHS trusts have not registered their TC as a separate site, and it is therefore not possible to identify their activity separately. Data from some independent sector providers, where the onus for arrangement of dataflows is on the commissioner, may be missing. Care must be taken when using this data as the counts may be lower than true figures. 7. Assessing growth through time: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care

Life Expectancy: Television

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the potential effects of television viewing on life expectancy.

Simon Burns: The Department has not commissioned research specifically on the potential effects of television viewing on life expectancy.
	In 2009, the Department set up an expert group to review existing evidence on the impact of sedentary behaviour, including screen time, on overweight and obesity, and the impact on health and activity levels. The group has drawn up recommendations on limiting sedentary behaviour for all ages. These are reflected in Start Active, Stay Active, a report on physical activity for health from the four home countries’ chief medical officers published in July 2011. The expert group submitted its report on 26 March 2010 and this is available on the Department’s website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_128225.pdf

Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with representatives of universities on research into mindfulness-based therapies; and what research projects his Department has funded into mindfulness-based therapies in the last three years.

Paul Burstow: The Department has had no recent discussions with representatives of universities specifically on research into mindfulness-based therapies. Research projects and research training awards directly funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in the last three years relating to mindfulness-based therapies are listed in the following table.
	
		
			 Title Start date End date Institution 
			 A qualitative synthesis of patient experiences of mindfulness-based interventions followed by a feasibility study of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and/or asthma and co-morbid symptoms of anxiety and/or depression 1 November 2009 31 October 2012 University of Bristol 
			 Preventing depressive relapse in NHS practice through mindfulness-based cognitive therapy 1 January 2010 31 March 2014 University of Exeter 
			 A qualitative (feasibility) study of mindfulness-based stress reduction for the treatment of fatigue, anxiety and depression in women with metastatic breast cancer 14 June 2010 13 December 2012 University of Southampton 
		
	
	In addition, an NIHR-funded project on group mindfulness-based therapy for distressing voices, led by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, started in October 2011.

Mental Health Services: Finance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on (a) anti depressant drugs and (b) mindfulness-based therapies to treat prisoner stress and mental illnesses in each of the last three years.

Paul Burstow: The Department has incurred no such cost for anti-depressants and mindfulness-based therapies to treat prisoners. Pharmaceutical and psychological therapies are provided by primary care trusts (PCTs) and are available for all who require these within a PCTs catchment area, including for prisoner. Each PCT is responsible for determining the type of services offered within its catchment area and the Department does not collect information on how much they spend on these services.
	In February this year the Department launched its mental health strategy “No Health Without Mental Health”. One of the commitments made in the strategy is to complete the roll out of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme and prisoners will benefit from this. The IAPT programme has produced good practice guidance on treating offenders, “Offenders: Positive Practice Guide”, a copy of which has been placed in the Library, which can also be found at:
	www.iapt.nmhdu.org.uk/silo/files/offenders-positive-practice-guide.pdf

Midwives

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the duties of local supervising authority midwifery officers will be provided after the abolition of strategic health authorities.

Anne Milton: The Local Supervising Authority (LSA) function is currently hosted in strategic health authorities (SHAs) where accountability is held by the chief executives with the SHA Director of Nursing as the executive lead. Each LSA appoints a practising midwife as the local supervising midwifery officer (LSAMO) who has responsibility for carrying out the LSAs functions. The LSA function and the role of LSAMOs in the future is being considered as part of transitional plans to deliver a reformed national health service, subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill.

Pharmacy: Patient Choice Schemes

Daniel Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to promote patient choice in respect of pharmacy and dispensary provision.

Simon Burns: We fully support patients having a choice of pharmaceutical services providers. Patients can take their prescriptions to any national health service pharmacy they wish to have their prescriptions dispensed.
	However, in more remote and rural areas NHS pharmacies may not always be viable. That is why, to ensure adequate access to NHS dispensing services, primary care trusts may authorise general practitioners to dispense to patients provided certain criteria set out in regulations are met. Under these regulations, such doctors provide a more restricted range of pharmaceutical services than pharmacies.

Postnatal Depression

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assistance is available to women identified as having postnatal depression.

Anne Milton: Midwives, health visitors, general practitioners, and other health professionals involved in the care of women following childbirth are trained to help women at risk or suffering from post-natal depression. Specialist Perinatal Psychiatric Services and Specialist Mother and Baby Psychiatric Units are available for seriously ill women whose needs cannot be met by primary care.

Postnatal Depression

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of postnatal depression were diagnosed in each of the last three years.

Anne Milton: The majority of women diagnosed with postnatal depression will be treated in primary care. Information is not collected centrally about diagnoses for any condition in primary care, so reliable data are not available about the number of women with post-natal depression.

SCOTLAND

Clinical Trials

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has had discussions with (a) the Scottish Government and (b) NHS Scotland on joint working with the Scottish government on clinical trials.

David Mundell: Scotland Office Ministers have had no discussions with the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland on this issue.

Departmental Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many meetings he has had with representatives of (a) social enterprises, (b) charities, (c) large private sector businesses and (d) small and medium-sized private sector businesses since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: The Secretary of State for Scotland, my right hon. Friend the Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Michael Moore), and I meet regularly with a range of social enterprises, charities and private sector businesses. Information on ministerial meetings is published quarterly at:
	www.data.gov.uk

Health Research Authority

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has had discussions with (a) the Scottish Government and (b) NHS Scotland on the formation of the proposed Health Research Authority for England.

David Mundell: Scotland Office Ministers have had no discussions with the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland on this issue.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Departmental Correspondence

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has received representations concerning (a) the big society bank, (b) the Work programme and (c) volunteering since June 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Hugo Swire: I am the Minister responsible for advancing the big society agenda in Northern Ireland.
	The big society capital group has been a matter of discussion at meetings I have held with Peter Robinson MLA, First Minister for Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster MLA, Northern Ireland Minister for Enterprise Trade and Investment and Nelson McCausland MLA, Northern Ireland Minister for Social Development. I have also held discussions with Sir Ronald Cohen, now appointed interim non-executive chairman of the big society capital group and Nick O’Donoghue the first CEO of the group. I have also had discussions on this subject with Seamus McAleavey, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action. This was also considered at a seminar that I hosted in Hillsborough castle on 27 June that addressed this and other big society issues and which was attended by over 60 individuals representing the third sector in Northern Ireland.
	At the seminar on the big society, which I hosted in June, there was consideration of the role that volunteers can play in our society. I also received written representations concerning how best to mark volunteers week in Northern Ireland.
	My noble Friend the Lord Freud has engaged with Northern Ireland Ministers on the matter of the Work programme and other aspects of welfare reform during his recent visits to Northern Ireland.

Departmental Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many meetings he has had with representatives of (a) social enterprises, (b) charities, (c) large private sector businesses and (d) small and medium-sized private sector businesses since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Owen Paterson: In the course of my duties, I meet with representatives of social enterprises, charities and public sector business of all sizes.
	Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be obtained via the Northern Ireland Office website at:
	www.nio.gov.uk/index/nio-publication

TREASURY

11 Downing Street: Official Hospitality

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which charities have held receptions at No. 11 Downing street in the last 16 months.

Chloe Smith: holding answer 17 October 2011
	The charities that have held receptions at No. 11 in the last 16 months are listed below:
	John Smith Memorial Trust (July 2010)
	Starlight's Children's Charity Christmas Party (December 2010)
	Evison Foundation (February 2011)
	Beat—Beating Eating Disorders (February 2011)
	Diana Awards—Young people who inspire the lives of others (February 2011)
	Times/Sternberg Active Life Awards for older people in Britain (February 2011)
	Breast Cancer Campaign (March 2011)
	Community Foundation for Lancashire (May 2011)
	Tommy's—Let's talk baby (May 2011)
	Anne Frank (May 2011)
	WAVE Trust—Ending child abuse to stop violence (May 2011)
	Royal Manchester's Children's Hospital (June 2011)
	First News Children's Newspaper (June 2011)
	John Smith Memorial Trust (July 2011)
	All Party Ladies Committee/Chelsea & Westminster Hospital (July 2011)
	Louise Gergel Fellowship (July 2011)
	Business in the Community (July 2011)
	Evalina Children's Hospital (September 2011)
	Norwood (September 2011)
	Great Ormond Street (September 2011).

Air Force: Scotland

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will place in the Library a copy of each item of correspondence his Department has received from the Scottish Government in respect of the recent RAF basing review.

Danny Alexander: I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the answer the then Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), gave him on 11 August 2011, Official Report, column 1186.

Banks: Finance

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the quantity of sovereign debt held by UK banks that has been issued by (a) Greece, (b) Ireland, (c) Portugal, (d) Spain, (e) Italy and (f) France.

Mark Hoban: Data on external claims of UK-owned monetary financial institutions, and of their branches and subsidiaries abroad, is available on the Bank of England website at:
	http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics/Bankstats/2011/Sep/TabC4.2.xls
	This includes UK banking groups’ direct exposures to the entire public sectors in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and France, as of end June 2011.

Business: Complaints

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) his officials have discussed customer complaints with representatives of banks and other big businesses; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Child Benefit

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 17 October 2011, Official Report, column 686W, on child benefit, what estimate he has made of the additional administrative cost of (a) the new child benefit cancellation arrangements at HM Revenue and Customs, (b) new self-assessment tax return provisions for child benefit recipient disclosure and (c) amending PAYE systems to allow taxpayer disclosure of child benefit receipt.

David Gauke: The preliminary indicative estimate for delivering the change to child benefit announced by the Chancellor on 4 October 2010 is £130 million over the four-year spending review period. This figure covers the changes required to existing IT systems and other administrative costs, such as staffing and communications.

Child Care Tax Credit: North Lanarkshire

Frank Roy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of women in the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency likely to give up work following reductions in the level of refundable child care.

David Gauke: The assumptions made in the costing of changes to child tax credit and working tax credit from 2011-12 are set out in spending review 2010 policy costings, available at:
	http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sr2010_policycostings.pdf
	The Government recently agreed the extension of child care provision to those working less than 16 hours through universal credit, which will enable the transition of parents into the labour market.

Child Trust Fund

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the change in the average monetary value of child trust funds invested in share schemes over the last 12 months;
	(2)  whether any assessment has been made of the expected long-term performance of child trust fund investments;
	(3)  if the Government will consider the merits of reviews updating its advice to parents on how child trust funds are managed, in order to highlight lower-risk savings options;
	(4)  if he will investigate a change to the rules on child trust funds to allow parents to transfer existing funds into Junior ISA schemes.

David Gauke: The Child Trust Fund (CTF) scheme provided every eligible child with a tax-free savings account. There are currently around six million CTF accounts which are worth approximately £3.2million. The Government believe that a sizable CTF market exists, and expect that providers will continue to offer competitive CTF investments.
	The Government have made no formal assessments of the expected long-term performance of CTF investments, but expect that investment growth in CTF accounts will be broadly in line with other investment products. CTF providers are not required to report to HM Revenue and Customs the annual investment returns on CTF stakeholder accounts they provide. Available CTF statistical information can be found at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ctf/stats.htm
	To ensure CTF account holders receive the best rate of returns for their investments, the Government would encourage parents to continue to shop around to obtain the best deals, including switching between CTF account types and providers.
	Junior ISAs and CTF accounts will operate in different ways and the Government do not believe it is in the interests of the six million CTF account holders to rush into wholesale changes to the CTF scheme without consulting all interested parties first. Therefore, once Junior ISAs have been successfully launched, the Government will consider the future of existing CTF accounts, including whether CTFs should be converted into Junior ISAs.
	In the meantime, to ensure that children with a CTF are not disadvantaged, on 1 November the Government will increase the CTF contribution limit to £3,600, bringing it in line with the Junior ISA limit. Through this the Government are providing support for all parents wishing to save for their children's future.

Community Investment Tax Relief

Damian Hinds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the take-up was of Community Investment Tax Relief in each year since its inception.

David Gauke: The take-up of Community Investment Tax Relief in terms of numbers of individuals and amounts claimed each year are shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Tax year Number of claimants Income tax relief claimed (£000) 
			 2002-03 650 170 
			 2003-04 580 395 
			 2004-05 930 905 
			 2005-06 1,175 1,315 
			 2006-07 1,155 1,335 
			 2007-08 1,125 1,135 
			 2008-09 1,025 1,090 
			 2009-10 980 1,275 
		
	
	Each year a small number of companies (around 20 to 30) also claim the relief, but data on the amounts claimed are not available.

Community Investment Tax Relief

Damian Hinds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether a target take-up level for Community Investment Tax Relief was (a) projected and (b) set as a target at the time of its inception.

David Gauke: Community Investment Tax Relief was introduced in 2002. There was no target take-up set at the time of inception. It was projected that £25 million a year would be claimed in tax relief over a 10 year period.

Departmental Location

Michael Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many civil servants in his Department have been (a) relocated and (b) agreed for relocation in the last 12 months; and to which areas of the UK.

Chloe Smith: HM Treasury has staff based in two sites, in London and Norwich. During the last 12 months no civil servants have been relocated from London to Norwich and fewer than five civil servants have agreed to relocate from Norwich to London. There are currently no further plans to relocate staff.
	It is the Department's policy not to disclose further details of staff numbers fewer than five, where to do so could lead to the identification of protected personal data.

Departmental Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings he has had with representatives of (a) social enterprises, (b) charities, (c) large private sector businesses and (d) small and medium-sized private sector businesses since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: A list of Treasury Ministers’ meetings with external organisations can be found on the Treasury website:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Departmental Security

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to improve cyber-security in relation to his Department's estate; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: HM Treasury adheres to the IT security principles set out in the Government's Security Policy Framework (SPF):
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/hmg-security-policy_0_0.pdf
	The SPF contains a number of mandatory measures dealing with best practice security standards for managing and protecting Government IT systems and devices, as well as business continuity. These measures include regular independent IT health checks.
	In addition, HM Treasury make every effort to keep up to date with current developments in cyber security, reviewing security and business continuity policies accordingly and endeavouring to encourage a culture of security-risk-and-threat-awareness within the Department.

Employment: Public Sector

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to support areas of the UK with high levels of public sector employment.

Danny Alexander: The public sector paybill accounts for around half of departmental resource spending, so deficit reduction will inevitably impact on the public sector workforce. Failing to tackle the deficit would cause more harm to job prospects in the public sector in the medium term.
	Most public sector workforces are spread throughout the country so we do not expect major variations in job losses between regions. However, there may be more localised impacts.
	The Government will monitor actively potential workforce reductions—looking to use the Jobcentre Plus Rapid Response Teams as appropriate.
	The Regional Growth Fund will also support local projects with significant growth potential.

Excise Duties: Alcoholic Drinks

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the cost to the Exchequer of alcohol duty fraud in the financial year (a) 2010-11, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2008-09;
	(2)  if he will hold a consultation on introducing duty stamps on beer and wine.

Chloe Smith: At Budget 2011, the Chancellor announced that the Government will explore potential legislative measures to tackle existing and emerging threats to alcohol duty receipts. HMRC are currently consulting with the alcohol industry informally on potential anti-fraud measures. All options remain under consideration, and a decision whether to consult formally on specific measures will be taken in due course.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Simon Hart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress he has made on proposals for a rural fuel duty rebate; and when he expects to announce progress.

Chloe Smith: The European Commission has agreed in principle to the adoption of such a scheme. On 8 September, the Commission published the proposal for the application of reduced levels of taxation on petrol and diesel across the inner and outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, the islands in the Clyde and the Isles of Scilly.
	The next stage of the process is to secure the unanimous agreement of other EU member states to the proposal and we will publish information on further progress in due course.

Financial Services Authority

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Financial Services Authority on skilled persons reports; and how many such reports were issued to asset management firms in (a) each year from 2006 to 2010 and (b) 2011 to date.

Mark Hoban: Treasury Ministers and officials meet senior members of the Financial Service Authority (FSA) on a regular basis to discuss a wide range of economic and financial issues. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of such meetings.
	I understand that the FSA publishes information on the use of the power to commission “skilled persons” reports in its annual report. A breakdown of the use of this power at sector level could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

Inheritance Tax

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of charities that will benefit from the proposal to make estates liable for a lower rate of inheritance tax when 10 per cent. or more of their value is left to charities;
	(2)  how much revenue was raised from inheritance tax in Scotland in each of the last five years;
	(3)  what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the economic situation on revenue raised from inheritance tax;
	(4)  what proportion of estates at death were liable for inheritance tax (a) nationally and (b) in Scotland in each of the last five years;
	(5)  what estimate he has made of the likely financial effect on charities (a) nationally and (b) in Scotland of the proposal for estates to pay a lower rate of inheritance tax when 10 per cent. or more of their value is left to charities; and when he intends to publish details of the proposed scheme.

David Gauke: The consultation document “A new incentive for charitable legacies”, published on the HMRC website at:
	http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/downloadFile?contentID=HMCE_PROD1_031346
	stated that there are over 300,000 charities in the UK. All of these bodies could potentially benefit from the proposal to reduce the rate of inheritance tax for estates which leave 10% or more of their value to charities. However, we do not know how many of these charities will be left additional legacies as a result of this measure in any given year.
	Numbers of estates liable for inheritance tax in the UK are published in National Statistics table 1.4 available from the HMRC website at
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tax_receipts/table1-4-march2011.xls
	Numbers of taxpayers in Scotland and tax receipts from Scottish estates are published in Table 12.10 available from the HMRC website at
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/inheritance_tax/table12-10.xls
	Based on this data the proportion of estates liable at death for inheritance tax is given in the following table.
	
		
			 Taxpaying estates as a proportion of deaths 
			 Percentage 
			  UK Scotland 
			 2006-07 6 n/a 
			 2007-08 4 3 
			 2008-09 3 2 
			 2009-10 3 n/a 
			 2010-11 3 n/a 
		
	
	The tax receipts from Scottish estates as published in Table 12.10 are given in the following table.
	
		
			  Receipts (£ million) 
			 2006-07 n/a 
			 2007-08 220 
			 2008-09 231 
			 2009-10 n/a 
			 2010-11 n/a 
		
	
	Data for 2006/07 on taxpaying estates or receipts for Scotland was not published. Data for 2009-10 and 2010-11 will be published to our publication schedule which is available from the HMRC website at
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/updates/annual-plan.pdf
	A revised forecast of inheritance tax revenue which will take into account the effect of the economic situation will be published by the Office for Budget Responsibility in November 2011.
	The tax impact assessment in the consultation document previously referred to contains an estimate of the likely financial effect on charities nationally from the proposal to reduce the rate of inheritance tax for estates leaving 10% or more of their value to charities. No individual assessment has been made of the likely financial effect on charities in Scotland.
	An outline of the proposed scheme was published in the consultation document, which sought views on details of the policy. The next stage of policy development for this proposal will be to publish draft legislation for Finance Bill 2012 and explanatory notes, accompanied by a taxes information and impact note and updated tax impact assessment, in December 2011.

Money: Counterfeit Manufacturing

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the face value was of counterfeit coins removed from circulation in each year since 1997.

Chloe Smith: The following number of counterfeit £1 coins have been returned to the Royal Mint:
	
		
			  Total withdrawals 
			 2003-04 85,000 
			 2004-05 117,500 
			 2005-06 84,500 
			 2006-07 153,800 
			 2007-08 97,000 
			 2008-09 891,956 
			 2009-10 1,973,000 
			 2010-11 1,845,766 
			 2011-12 (to 30 September) 1,376,436 
		
	
	The Treasury does not have figures on withdrawals prior to 2003, when the counterfeit rate was estimated to be less than 1%.

Money: Counterfeit Manufacturing

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of counterfeit (a) £5, (b) £10, (c) £20 and (d) £50 bank notes in circulation.

Chloe Smith: In 2010, 300,000 counterfeit Bank of England notes with a face value of £5.9 million were taken out of circulation.
	Details of the number of counterfeit Bank of England notes taken out of circulation are published on the Bank's website:
	http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/about/counterfeits.htm

Pensioners: Income Tax

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate has been made of the number of pensioners who paid income tax at the (a) 50 per cent., (b) 40 per cent. and (c) basic rate in each year since 2008-09; and what proportion of (i) all pensioner taxpayers and (ii) all pensioners these figures represented in each year.

David Gauke: holding answer 12 October 2011
	The requested information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Income taxpayers of state pension age 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Thousand     
			 Basic rate 5,170 5,140 5,280 5,190 
			 Higher rate 341 265 267 351 
			 Additional rate — — 20 23 
			 All pensioner taxpayers 5,510 5,410 5,560 5,570 
			      
			 As percentage of total pensioner taxpayers     
			 Basic rate 93.8 95.1 94.8 93.3 
			 Higher rate 6.2 4.9 4.8 6.3 
			 Additional rate — — 0.4 0.4 
			      
			 As percentage of all pensioners     
			 Basic rate 43.7 42.7 43.7 42.8 
			 Higher rate 2.9 2.2 2.2 29 
			 Additional rate — — 0.2 0.2 
			 All pensioner taxpayers 46.6 44.9 46.1 45.9 
		
	
	The estimates are based on the 2007-08 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected using economic assumptions consistent with the OBR's March 2011 economic and fiscal outlook.
	Pensioners are defined as taxpayers aged 65 years or older for men and 60 years or older for women in 2008-09 and 2009-10. The female state pension age is being increased gradually from April 2010 to be equalised with the male state pension age by November 2018. The female state pension age for the purposes of this table in 2010-11 is 60 years six months and in 2011-12 is 61 years.
	Basic rate taxpayers are defined as all non-higher and additional rate taxpayers.
	Pensioner population estimates are derived from the Office for National Statistics population projections.

Pensions

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what recent estimate he has made of the annual cost to the public purse of the tax-free lump sum for pension payments; what assumptions he has made in reaching this estimate; how many such lump sums were paid in the most recent year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the potential revenue yield from capping the tax free lump sum for pension payments at (a) £250,000, (b) £200,000, (c) £150,000 and (d) £100,000; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: There are no estimates for the cost of the tax-free lump sum for pension payments, nor an estimate of the potential revenue yield by capping it. There is no requirement on pension schemes to report to HM Revenue and Customs the amount or number of tax-free lump sum pension payments.

Pensions: Tax Allowances

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the revenue yield from restricting tax relief on pensions to 20% from incomes of £100,000 to incomes of £150,000 in each of the first three years after implementation; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: HMRC estimate that the revenue yield from restricting tax relief on pensions to 20% on incomes from £100,000 to £150,000 would be £1 billion in each of the three years after implementation.
	This is on an accruals basis and excludes behavioural effects.

Public Sector: Cooperatives

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to put in place a right to provide for public sector workers to take over the running of services; and if he will make a statement.

Danny Alexander: The Government support implementation of a right for public sector workers to form independent, mutual and co-operative social enterprises. The formation of public service mutuals is an important piece of the Government's open public services agenda as set out in the Open Public Services White Paper this July. Treasury is actively engaged in implementing this agenda across Government and this includes enabling public sector employees the opportunity to run the services they provide.

Public Sector: Cooperatives

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department has taken to encourage the development of public service mutuals in its area of responsibility; and if he will make a statement.

Danny Alexander: The Treasury is working with Cabinet Office to consider whether areas of central Government are appropriate for developing public sector mutuals. The formation of public service mutuals is an important piece of the Government's open public services agenda as set out in the Open Public Services White Paper this July. Treasury is actively engaged in implementing this agenda across Government and this includes enabling public sector employees the opportunity to run the services they provide.

Radio Frequencies

Andrew Percy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the likely level of revenue from an auction of 800MHz and 2,600MHz Spectrum; and whether such revenues have been included in the Government Accounts for the comprehensive spending review period;
	(2)  what his policy is on the allocation of the proceeds from any future auction of 800MHz and 2,600MHz Spectrum; and whether any announced spending commitments will be funded from the proceeds of such an auction.

Danny Alexander: holding answer 18 October 2011
	The Government does not comment on their estimates of receipts from asset sales, which are of a commercially sensitive nature.
	The independent Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for determining whether receipts from asset sales should be included in the fiscal forecasts. To date the OBR's policy has been not to include future receipts from the sale of spectrum licenses on the basis that they cannot be quantified with reasonable accuracy.
	Consistent with this approach, the Government made no assumptions at spending review 2010 about the level of receipts from the award of 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum licenses and no spending commitments are contingent upon these receipts.

Stamp Duties

Steven Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has considered the merits of raising the stamp duty threshold in order to increase levels of home ownership.

Chloe Smith: The Chancellor keeps all taxes, including stamp duty land tax, under review at the Budget.

Stamp Duties: First Time Buyers

Aidan Burley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has considered the merits of extending the current relief from stamp duty for first-time buyers beyond March 2012.

Chloe Smith: holding answer 20 October 2011
	The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced at Budget 2011 that the outcome of a review of the stamp duty land tax relief for first time buyers will be announced in autumn 2011.

Taxation: Business

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the tax revenue raised from small businesses in the latest period for which figures are available; and how much and what proportion of such revenue was collected via (a) employee income tax, (b) employee national insurance contributions, (c) employer national insurance contributions, (d) business rates, (e) corporation tax, (f) Value Added Tax, (g) capital gains tax and (h) stamp duty land tax.

David Gauke: It is not possible to identify tax revenue raised from small businesses on a consistent basis as the necessary information on turnover, assets and employment is not routinely collected on tax returns for every head of duty. However, we are able to provide estimates for some taxes on a tax-specific definition of what constitutes a 'small business'.
	(a), (b) and (c) We estimate that 21% (£45.4 billion) of pay as you earn (PAYE) received in respect of tax year 2010-11 came from small businesses. Small businesses are defined for this analysis as PAYE schemes with fewer than 50 employees. Businesses may have more than one PAYE scheme, so there may be cases where schemes have fewer than 50 employees but where the business itself has more.
	(d) CLG statistics on national non-domestics rates are available using the following link. They do not have any information on receipts of business rates by size of business.
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/statistics/pdf/1972031.pdf
	(e) Total corporation tax receipts across all businesses can be found on the HMRC website. Companies making profits for an accounting period at a rate of over £1.5 million annually must normally pay by instalments. Smaller companies will normally fall outside the instalment payment regime. Defining small company in this way, net small company payments in 2010-11 were £11.5 billion. The link is:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/corporate_tax/table11_1.xls
	(f) Home VAT is VAT charged on supplies of goods or services made in the UK. For small businesses, defined for this category as those with turnover less than £10 million, the receipts from Home VAT is around £27 billion.
	This is available on the UK Trade Info website. The link is:
	https://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=factvat
	(g) Capital gains tax statistics on assets by business and non business can be found in the HMRC website using the following link. However, we are unable to disaggregate these figures by business size. The link is:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/capital_gains/table14-6.pdf
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/capital_gains/table14-7.pdf
	(h) Stamp duty land tax statistics on all non-residential transactions can be found on the HMRC website. However, we are unable to disaggregate these figures by business size. The link is:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/stamp_duty/table15-3.pdf

Taxation: Gaming Machines

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Economic Secretary to the Treasury will meet representatives of the amusement games industry to discuss the conclusions of his Department's recent consultation on the introduction of a machine gaming duty.

Chloe Smith: Treasury Ministers and officials meet with a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the usual policymaking process. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Departmental Advertising

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much his Department has spent on advertising job vacancies since May 2010.

John Penrose: No cost has been spent on advertising for job vacancies within the Department since May 2010.
	£123,568.93 has been spent on advertising for public appointments. The Department follows the Commissioner for Public Appointments code of practice with regard to publicising appointments.

Departmental Manpower

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many civil servants work in his Department; and how many worked in his Department in (a) 2000, (b) 2005, (c) 2007 and (d) 2010.

John Penrose: The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in post at this Department as at 31 March for the years requested, is in the following table.
	
		
			  FTE staff 
			 2000 623 
			 2005 509 
			 2007 517 
			 2010 469 
			 2011 443 
		
	
	This information has been taken from the departmental resource accounts 1999-2000, 2004-05 and the departmental consolidated accounts 2010-11.

Museums and Galleries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many people have visited a publicly-funded museum in the last 12 months.

Edward Vaizey: This Department holds information about the number of people visiting their sponsored museums and the museums funded through the Renaissance in the Regions programme.
	The number of people who visited this Department’s sponsored museums from 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 is in the following table:
	
		
			 Museum Visits 
			 Tate Galleries (including Tate London: i.e. Tate Britain and Tate Modern combined, Tate Liverpool and Tate  St Ives) 7,296,933 
			 British Museum 5,944,964 
			 National Gallery 5,127,000 
			 Natural History Museum (NHM) (including NHM South Kensington, NHM at Tring) 4,772,995 
			 National Museum of Science and Industry (including Science Museum South Kensington, National Media Museum, National Railway Museum, Science Museum Swindon, Locomotion at Shildon) 4,176,967 
			 Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) (including V&A South Kensington, V&A Museum of Childhood and V&A Theatre Museum) 3,042,231 
			 National Museums Liverpool 2,899,189 
			 Imperial War Museum (IWM) (including IWM London, HMS Belfast, Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, Duxford Air Museum, IWM North) 2,307,542 
			 National Maritime Museum 1,931,797 
			 Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (including all  13 branches)(1) 1,871,274 
			 National Portrait Gallery 1,785,616 
			 Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester 818,724 
			 Horniman Museum (excluding visits to the garden)(1) 512,129 
			 Wallace Collection 368,962 
			 Royal Armouries (RA) (including RA Leeds and RA Fort Nelson) 288,633 
			 Sir John Soane’s Museum 109,325 
			 Geffrye Museum(1) 106,105 
			 National Coal Mining Museum for England 102,867 
			 (1) The Geffrye, the Horniman Museum and Gardens and Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums are part of the Renaissance hub network and so visits to these museums will also be counted in the Renaissance in the Regions figures. 
		
	
	The latest available figures for the Renaissance in the Regions programme shows that between April 2010 and March 2011, 18,780,545 people visited the Renaissance museum venues.

Ofcom

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what procurement process was followed in respect of the contract between Ofcom and Equiniti on the programme making and special events funding scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: Ofcom followed a competitive procurement process under the “restricted procedure” as detailed in the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended). This involved inviting expressions of interest via a public notice in the Official Journal of the European Union and Ofcom's own website from 21 December 2009 under the reference number ITT/83/09. Invitations to tender (including a draft contract and detailed award criteria) were issued to all expressing an interest on 15 February 2010 which resulted in the submission of three compliant tenders, and the contract being awarded to Equiniti Limited following detailed assessment of the three tenders received.

Ofcom

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what proportion of profits made by re-selling surrendered programme making and special events equipment will go back to (a) HM Treasury and (b) Equiniti, the scheme administrator.

Edward Vaizey: The contract between Ofcom and Equiniti contains a gain share clause whereby 54% of the resale value, not profit, is returned to HM Treasury. Equiniti must cover its own cost of sales from its share of the resale value.
	Also Equiniti must bear the whole cost of disposal in accordance with environmental legislation of such equipment as cannot be resold.

Ofcom

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what safeguards have been put in place to ensure that surrendered equipment which is resold as part of the programme making and special events funding scheme will be either returned or destroyed by October 2012; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: UK sales are being made only to lawful, licensed users of channel 69. The contract between Ofcom and Equiniti requires destruction in accordance with environmental regulations, return or modification for lawful use. Further, there is a requirement that any purchaser of surrendered equipment agrees to take the equipment out of use by the time licensed (and therefore lawful) use of channel 69 expires and confirm in writing to Equiniti that they have either modified the equipment to operate on Channel 38 or Channel 70, disposed of the Equipment under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations or returned it to Equiniti. Ofcom can request purchasers provide documentary evidence of disposal or modification (and to make equipment available for inspection on request in the case of modification).

Ofcom

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much (a) Ofcom and (b) his Department have budgeted in order to police the use of Channel 69 by people who have bought surrendered equipment from Equiniti; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: Ofcom has powers under the Wireless Telegraphy Act to take enforcement action against unlawful use of spectrum. It has not budgeted separately in respect of channel 69.

Philatelic Organisations

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what support his Department gives to philatelic organisations.

John Penrose: The British Library holds the National Philatelic Collections of the United Kingdom. Following the spending review it was allocated the following budgets and grant in aid:
	
		
			  Resource   budget   (£ million)  Capital   budget   (£ million)   
			  Programme (near-cash) Admin (near-cash) Ring fenced depreciation Total   resource   (DEL  (1)  )   budget   (£ million) Core capital Projects Total   capital   (DEL)   budget   (£ million) Grant in   aid   (£ million) 
			 2011-12 85.153 8,314 17.700 111.167 2.906 11.100 14.006 107.473 
			 2012-13 83.575 8.164 18.700 110.439 3.047 1.500 4.547 96.286 
			 2013-14 82.311 8.044 18.700 109.055 3.189 0 3.189 93.544 
			 2014-15 82.147 7.929 19.205 109.280 3.331 0 3.331 93.407 
			 (1) Departmental expenditure limit.

Sportsgrounds: Safety

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much he expects to save through the abolition of the Sports Ground Safety Authority.

Hugh Robertson: The role and remit of the Sports Ground Safety Authority has just been extended in a recent Act of Parliament. A number of options for their future are being considered, but no figures on costs or savings can be provided at this stage.

DEFENCE

Adam Werritty

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether Mr Adam Werritty has been present at meetings with each Minister of his Department since May 2010.

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the report by the Cabinet Secretary of 18 October 2011, what matters were discussed between the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Security Strategy and Mr Adam Werritty at the official meeting between them.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 18 October 2011
	I refer the hon. Members to the Cabinet Secretary's report published on 18 October 2011. The report refers to contact between Mr Adam Werritty and two Ministry of Defence (MOD) Ministers: the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Government spokesperson (Lord Astor of Hever) and the Under-Secretary of State for International Security Strategy, my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Mr Howarth).
	Lord Astor had occasional social contact with Mr Werritty: contact as a result of their previous involvement with the Atlantic Bridge; and contact in passing when visiting Bahrain for the Manama Dialogue in December 2010. None of these meetings involved official MOD business.
	Mr Howarth has met Adam Werritty on three occasions, two of which were large social gatherings. Adam Werritty was also present at a meeting between Mr Howarth and a representative of IRG Ltd regarding information that could be useful to the Department relating to Iraq. The discussion centred on the economic and political landscape in Iraq. No further contact or action has taken place.

Afghanistan: Hotels

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on hotel bills in Afghanistan in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09, (c) 2009-10 and (d) 2010-11.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 18 October 2011
	The Ministry of Defence has not incurred any costs from hotel bills in the years requested.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Richard Drax: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of helicopter support available to UK forces in Afghanistan.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 21 October 2011
	Helicopter support for UK forces in Afghanistan is regularly reviewed. The military assessment continues to be that commanders on the ground have access to sufficient helicopter flying hours to enable core tasks to be undertaken.

AlixPartners

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the business case relating to the appointment of AlixPartners.

Peter Luff: AlixPartners was chosen for their proven competence and experience in business turnaround. The Ministry of Defence's (MOD) renegotiation programme required a high level of professional skill which was not available within the MOD on the scale needed for an exercise of this scope within the timescales available, and it was clear that additional assistance was required. I am withholding the release of the business case as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.
	The work carried out by AlixPartners is expected to realise hundreds of millions in savings through contract renegotiation.

Departmental Advertising

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on advertising job vacancies since May 2010.

Andrew Robathan: Although the Ministry of Defence is reducing its civilian staff headcount and has imposed a freeze on most external recruitment, we still need to recruit for posts that are business critical or provide support to current operational commitments. The majority of the external recruitment carried out since May 2010 has been for Service Children's Education, to provide teachers overseas, and also for medical grades, including doctors, nurses and physiotherapists. We have also had to fill a number of senior civil service posts critical to driving forward our reform agenda. These posts are usually advertised across a range of specialist media, as well as on the civil service jobs website. The amount spent on recruitment advertising since May 2010 is £522,826.59. This does not include any expenditure by the trading funds and Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to his Department's business plan 2011-15, how much is projected to be saved in (a) Resource DEL, (b) Capital DEL, (c) annually-managed expenditure and (d) in total from the reduction of the number of heavy armour platforms in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

Philip Hammond: Savings over the next four years are expected to be:
	
		
			 £ million 
			  2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 Resource DEL (near cash) 5 10 10 10 
			 Capital DEL <5 <5 <5 <5 
		
	
	The figures include the currently projected savings for: Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank, the Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle, the Driver Training Tank, Titan, Trojan, and AS90.
	They do not include any savings in depreciation or the costs of writing the assets down, which cannot be calculated until the future of the surplus equipment has been determined.
	All figures are planning assumptions and are rounded to the nearest £5 million; the Capital DEL element of the savings is less than £5 million in total over the four-year period.

Ex-servicemen

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has any plans for a public awareness campaign on difficulties faced by veterans.

Andrew Robathan: The armed forces covenant underlines our commitment to ensuring that all the service community, including ex-service personnel, receive the support and recognition which they deserve. As part of this, we work very closely with other Government Departments, devolved Administrations and voluntary sector organisations to ensure that the needs and circumstances of the ex-service community are known with the aim of improving veterans' access to services and to assist with their transition to civilian life. This includes the work undertaken by the Department of Health to inform GPs about the potential problems that may face veterans and the Department for Communities and Local Government programme to ensure that local authorities give priority to eligible veterans in relation to housing. Indeed, the publicity surrounding the implementation of covenant initiatives has succeeded in raising, the profile of the needs of our service community among the wider public.
	In addition, the Department aims to inform the public of the help and advice available to veterans. For example, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) publishes a quarterly newsletter, Veterans World, which provides information on specific Government, devolved Administration and charitable initiatives aimed at assisting veterans. The MOD also regularly engages with news channels and documentary makers to publicly highlight the issues faced by some veterans and the steps the Government are taking to address these.

Graham Livesey

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to the public purse was of employing Mr Graham Livesey as a military assistant.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 18 October 2011
	Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Livesey is a serving Army Officer. As a Lt Col his salary is in the range of £67,031 to £77,617. His appointment as a Military Assistant in the Defence Secretary’s office was made under the same terms and conditions of service as to any other post.

Libya: Armed Conflict

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel from the (a) Royal Navy, (b) Royal Air Force and (c) Army have been deployed in relation to the NATO operation in Libya since March 2011.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 13 October 2011
	Information on the number of service personnel who have participated in the NATO operation in Libya is not held in the format requested. As at 10 October 2011 the number of service personnel deployed overseas in support of Operation Ellamy, the UK contribution to the NATO operation, was:
	
		
			  Number of service personnel(1) 
			 Royal Navy 350 
			 Royal Air Force 770 
			 Army 90 
			 1 Rounded to the nearest 10 personnel 
		
	
	The number of personnel overseas fluctuates on a daily basis for a variety of reasons including temporary absence for training, evacuation for medical reasons, the roulement of forces, and visits. We do not, therefore, publish actual figures for personnel deployed.

Military Bases: Radioactive Waste

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  when his Department first received reports of radioactive pollution at Dalgety Bay in Fife;
	(2)  what surveys his Department has undertaken of Dalgety Bay in Fife;
	(3)  how many radioactive particles have been recorded at Dalgety Bay in Fife since his Department first received reports of pollution at that location.

Andrew Robathan: Personnel from Rosyth Dockyard are reported to have first found contamination in June 1990 while carrying out ongoing environmental monitoring associated with nuclear submarine operations at Rosyth.
	The most recent survey work undertaken by Ministry of Defence (MOD) contractors was on 12 September 2011 when over 30 items, sometimes referred to as radioactive particles or artefacts, were recovered. It is understood that the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) has recovered additional radioactive items. Previous to the September survey, the MOD has undertaken six monitoring surveys and three intrusive investigations of the foreshore area which recovered a total of 128 radioactive items. The results of these surveys along with locations at which buried radium fragments have been encountered are published in the (Entec) Completion Report, dated 19 October available on the following website:
	http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/MicroSite/DIO/OurPublications/TechnicalDocuments/MTP/DalgetyBay.htm
	Recorded finds prior to MOD's support to SEPA via the Dalgety Bay Forum are detailed in previous Health Protection Agency and SEPA reports. SEPA’s reports are available on their website at:
	http://www.sepa.org.uk/radioactive_substances/publications/dalgety_bay_reports.aspx
	These documents will be placed in the Library of the House.
	In addition to the surveys details above, the MOD has also undertaken investigation, survey and recovery works in relation to properties on the land and these have been satisfactory resolved.

Military Bases: Radioactive Waste

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what steps his Department plans to take to secure the foreshore at the location where radioactive pollution has been identified at Dalgety Bay in Fife;
	(2)  what discussions his Department has had with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on the clean-up of contamination from military aircraft at Dalgety Bay in Fife;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the cost of cleaning up radioactive pollution found at Dalgety Bay in Fife.

Andrew Robathan: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) have cordoned off the foreshore at Dalgety Bay following the recent finds.
	The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has agreed to dispose of radioactive items recovered by SEPA as part of their ongoing investigative work. In addition the MOD has made a commitment to undertake a three-year programme of monitoring and recovery at Dalgety Bay to give the public a greater level of protection while SEPA undertakes its additional investigations to identify the source(s) of contamination.
	As the scope of any remediation has yet to be established it would be difficult to provide a realistic estimate of the remediation cost at this time.
	The MOD continues to support SEPA in the accumulation and disposal of radioactive items recovered during their investigations and supports their work in protecting the public.

Military Bases: Radioactive Waste

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consideration scientists of his Department gave to analysing radioactive contamination found at Dalgety Bay in Fife in 2009; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: All materials recovered by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) from Dalgety Bay have been assessed for radium content. The findings are available in the (Entec) Completion Report which is available on the MOD website at the following address:
	http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/MicroSite/DIO/OurPublications/TechnicalDocuments/MTP/DalgetyBay.htm
	A copy will be placed in the Library of the House.
	All material recovered by the Department has then been offered to SEPA so that further analysis can be carried out as necessary.

Military Bases: Risk Assessment

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when officials of his Department last met the Dalgety Bay Risk Assessment Group; and when this group next intends to meet.

Andrew Robathan: Ministry of Defence (MOD) officials have attended one meeting of the Dalgety Bay Risk Assessment Group, chaired by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, in March 2009. Although the MOD has suggested a further meeting, we have no record of any taking place.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan: Females

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he plans to take to support the development of women's rights in Afghanistan.

Andrew Mitchell: The UK is working hard to support Afghan women's empowerment, including creating opportunities for economic growth and social wellbeing that are inclusive of both men and women. For example, we are working with a local Afghan partner to link women tailors and cloth merchants to female agents for markets to help them sell their products. This programme has worked with more than 2,000 Afghan women to date and its reach is to be extended.
	On women's rights, Department for International Development works closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to help ensure that the Afghan Government and civil society uphold the rights of, and demonstrate accountability to Afghan women, and to support the Afghan peace and reconciliation process as part of an inclusive and sustainable political settlement.

Departmental Billing

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in July and August 2010.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development paid 98% of invoices within 10 days of receipt in July 2010 and 93% of invoices within 10 days of receipt in August 2010.

Departmental Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many meetings he has had with representatives of (a) social enterprises, (b) charities, (c) large private sector businesses and (d) small and medium-sized private sector businesses since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Mitchell: Information on meetings between the Secretary of State for International Development and external organisations; including charities, social enterprises and large and small and medium enterprises is available on the DFID website:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-us/Our-organisation/Ministers/
	This information covers meetings held since May 2010.

Departmental Sick Leave

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development for how many days on average his Department's staff in each pay grade were absent from work as a result of ill health in 2010-11.

Stephen O'Brien: Details of the average numbers of days lost to sickness absence, by pay grade, within the Department for International Development worldwide during the 2010-11 financial year, are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Average days lost to sickness absence per employee 
			 Pay grade Number 
			 Senior civil service (SCS) 0.2 
			 A1/grade 6 1.3 
			 A2/grade 7 2.9 
			 A2(L)/Senior executive officer plus fast stream staff 4.7 
			 B1/Higher executive officer 7.9 
			 B2/Executive officer 10.4 
			 C1/Administrative officer 17.7 
			 C2/Administrative assistant 8.6 
			 DFID overall 5.3

Indonesia: Natural Resources

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department's projects and programmes in Indonesia include the promotion of sustainable management of the earth's resources; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen O'Brien: In April 2011 the Department for International Development (DFID) agreed with the Government of Indonesia to focus all future UK aid for Indonesia on issues related to climate change, which we believe is the most effective way we can help to improve the lives of poor people in Indonesia in the long term. This means that all of DFID's current and future programmes in Indonesia will contribute to the sustainable management of natural resources. They will do this by helping to reduce deforestation and promoting more sustainable economic growth and employment opportunities. This will also help Indonesia meet its target for reducing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.

Israel: Overseas Aid

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department provided to (a) Israel and (b) Egypt in each category of expenditure in the latest period for which figures are available.

Alan Duncan: For the financial year 2010-11 my Department provided no assistance to the Governments of Israel or Egypt.
	The Prime Minister announced in May this year that the UK would provide £110 million to North African and Arab Spring countries, including Egypt, over the next four years, to support political and economic reform and transition in the middle east, including Egypt over the next four years. £90 million of this funding will come from my department with £20 million supplied by the FCO. Programming of this funding is currently under way and will support areas such as job creation, economic and social inclusion, political reform and free and fair elections across Arab Spring countries.
	My Department has no bilateral programme of assistance to Israel. In the financial year 2010-11 £500,000 of Conflict Pool funding was provided to Israeli NGOs working to address the causes of conflict and promote co-existence between Israel's Jewish and Arab populations and respect for human rights in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Middle East: Pipelines

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding from his Department is available to assist in the reconstruction of the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline.

Alan Duncan: No funding is available to assist the reconstruction of the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline.
	The Prime Minister announced in May this year that the UK would provide £110 million to North African and Arab Spring countries, including Egypt, over the next four years, to support political and economic reform and transition in the middle east, including Egypt over the next four years. £90 million of this funding will come from my Department with £20 million supplied by the FCO. Programming of this funding is currently under way and will support areas such as job creation, economic and social inclusion, political reform and free and fair elections across Arab Spring countries.

Mozambique: Environment Protection

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to promote environmental awareness in Mozambique at the provincial and sub-district level; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development (DFID) promotes environmental awareness in Mozambique at provincial and sub-district levels, first, through Budget Support. This will help finance a nationwide campaign launched by the President of Mozambique last year and run by the Ministry for the Environment, which encourages, for example, every school pupil to plant a tree and every community to preserve their forests. It will help increase the number of local ‘environmental educators' from 800 in 2010 to 5,000 in 2014.
	Secondly, DFID promotes environmental awareness by mainstreaming environmental issues into the projects we deliver through multiple sectors for example, education, agricultural, livelihoods, water and sanitation and by supporting civil society to advocate on environmental issues. DFID also leads by example, including by cutting the carbon footprint of our office in Mozambique. For example, the office cut its electricity consumption by 34%, comparing the last two months' bills to the same period last year.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to put in place a right to provide for public sector workers to take over the running of services; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps his Department has taken to encourage the development of public service mutuals in its area of responsibility; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen O'Brien: DFID staff have been made aware of the public sector-wide scheme which the Cabinet Office is taking forward in response to Government commitments. This scheme will give public sector workers new rights to spin out to form new enterprises and continue to deliver public services, including through new mutuals and co-operatives. These rights will not be uniform across organisations.
	The Mutuals Support Programme is a fund of more than £10 million, administered by the Cabinet Office. It will be dedicated to supporting some of the most promising and innovative mutuals so that they reach the point of investment readiness. This will be supported by the Mutuals Information Service that will give help and guidance to potential and existing mutuals. These will be launched later in the autumn.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Animal Welfare

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the role of the planning system in meeting the commitment in the coalition agreement to work to reduce the use of animals in scientific research.

Lynne Featherstone: No discussions have been held with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr Pickles), on the role of the planning system in meeting the commitment in the coalition agreement to work to reduce the use of animals in scientific research.

Contraband Goods

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases where contraband goods were seized at the port of Dover was (a) the vehicle transporting the goods permanently seized (and not returned to its owner) and (b) the driver or owner prosecuted in each of the years (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09, (iii) 2009-10 and (iv) 2010-11.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency does not hold all the information requested. The UK Border Agency prosecutes individuals attempting to transport prohibited and restricted goods into the United Kingdom. All excise seizures are referred to HM Revenue and Customs to action.
	Records for permanently seized vehicles are available only from 2010 and statistics regarding prosecutions are not available.
	The total number of vehicles seized by UK Border Agency in Dover for the years stated are as follows:
	
		
			 Number 
			  Vehicles seized Retained 
			 2007-08 1,104 n/a 
			 2008-09 947 n/a 
			 2009-10 1,052 (1)355 
			 2010-11 1,173 (2)859 
			 (1) 2010 only. (2) October 2011.

Contraband Goods

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date contraband goods were seized at the port of Dover in each year since 2007-08; what the (a) nature, (b) quantity and (c) estimated street value of the goods seized was in each case; and how much excise or other duties were forgone in each case.

Damian Green: The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Advertising

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department has spent on advertising job vacancies since May 2010.

Damian Green: The Home Office and its agencies have spent £20,935 on advertising job vacancies at senior civil servant level between 1 May 2010 and 30 September 2011. Information for posts below this level is available only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Pay

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the salary is of the UK Border Agency officials (a) Zilla Bowell, (b) Rob Yeldham, (c) Jonathan Sedgwick, (d) David Wood, (e) Martin Peach, (f) Matthew Coates, (g) Justin Holliday, (h) Joe Dugdale and (i) Brodie Clark.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency has published the salaries of senior staff, as part our commitment to transparency. The data now in the public domain represents what we can provide while honouring the duty that we have to our staff under the Data Protection Act.
	The information is set out as follows and is in table 3.13 of the UK Border Agency annual report and accounts 2010-11.
	
		
			  2010-11 2009-10 
			 Officials Salary (£000) Bonus   p  ayments (£000) Benefits in kind (to nearest   £100) Salary (£000) Bonus   p  ayments (£000) Benefits in kind (to nearest £100) 
			 Jonathan Sedgwick Deputy Chief Executive Acting Chief Executive (from 10 January 2011) 105-110 5-10 0 100-105 10-15 0 
			 Brodie Clark Director Border Force 130-135 5-10 2,500 130-135 10-15 5,700 
			 Matthew Coats Director Immigration Group 145-150 5-10 0 145-150 10-15 0 
			 Justin Holliday Director Resource Management Group 130-135 5-10 0 130-135 5-10 0 
			 Joe Dugdale Director HR and Organisational Development 130-135 5-10 0 130-135 10-15 0 
			 Martin Peach Director Intelligence Group 105-110 0 0 105-110 0 0 
			 David Wood Director Criminality and Detention Group 100-105 5-10 0 100-105 10-15 0 
			 Robert Yeldham Director Communications 85-90 0-5 0 85-90 0 0 
			 Zilla Bowell Chief of Staff (from 3 August 2009) 65-70 0-5 0 (1)45-50 0-5 0 
			 (1 )65-70 full year equivalent 
		
	
	Salary here includes gross salary; overtime; reserved rights to London weighting or London allowances; recruitment and retention allowances; private office allowances; and any other allowance to the extent that it is subject to UK taxation. This report is based on accrued payments made by the UK Border Agency.
	This can also be accessed via the following link:
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/annual-reports-accounts/
	Additionally, a list of SCS salaries (pay band 2 and above) and departmental organograms was published on 15 June 2011 showing a snapshot as at 31 March 2011. These are available on line at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/corporate-publications/ukba-structure-salary-march-2011/
	An updated list showing a snapshot as at 30 September 2011 is expected to be published by the 30 November.

Deportation: Offenders

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length of time taken was for a foreign offender issued with a deportation order to be removed from (a) the issue of the deportation order and (b) since the offender left prison in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: The following table shows the average length of time for a foreign national offender to be removed from the UK following the issue of a deportation order. Please note that data prior to 2008 are not considered to be sufficiently reliable.
	
		
			  Average number of days taken to remove a foreign national offender following the issue of a deportation order 
			 2008 149 
			 2009 149 
			 2010 165 
			 2011 (to September) 172 
		
	
	The following table shows the average length of time for a foreign national offender to be removed from the UK following the completion of their custodial sentence. Please note that data prior to 2008 are not considered to be sufficiently reliable.
	
		
			  Average number of days taken to remove a foreign national offender following the completion of their custodial sentence 
			 2008 131 
			 2009 119 
			 2010 95 
			 2011 (to September) 77

Detention Centres: Children

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children have been held in detention at pre-departure accommodation Cedars since it opened.

Damian Green: The latest published figures show that no children have been held in the pre-departure accommodation at Cedars between when it opened on 17 August 2011 and 31 August 2011.
	Since 25 November 2010, each month the Home Office has published a table specifically showing how many children entered immigration removal centres and short-term holding facilities. This excludes those in police cells, Prison Service establishments and short-term holding rooms at ports and airports (for less than 24 hours), those recorded as detained under both criminal and immigration powers and their dependants. From 29 September 2011, when figures for August were published, this table has included Cedars pre-departure accommodation.
	The Home Office publishes monthly, quarterly and annual statistics on the number of children entering detention, solely under Immigration Act powers. Children entering detention figures relating to September 2011 will be published on 27 October 2011 and will be available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Science, research and statistics web pages at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/research-statistics/migration/migration-statisticsl/

Detention Centres: Children

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children are being held in each immigration detention facility; and what the reason for the detention is in each case.

Damian Green: The latest published figures show that no children were being held in detention, solely under Immigration Act powers in immigration removal centres and short term holding facilities as at 30 June 2011. This excludes those in police cells, Prison Service establishments and short-term holding rooms at ports and airports (for less than 24 hours), those recorded as detained under both criminal and immigration powers and their dependants.
	Quarterly figures published on children in detention are taken as a snapshot on the last day of each quarter. Additionally figures are published on children entering detention on a monthly basis.
	The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of children in detention, solely under Immigration Act powers. Children in detention figures as at 30 September 2011 will be published on 24 November 2011 and will be available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Science, research and statistics webpages at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/research-statistics/migration/migration-statistics1/

Entry Clearances: Domestic Service

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the migrant domestic workers who renewed their visas in 2009 first entered the UK in (a) 2004, (b) 2005, (c) 2006, (d) 2007, (e) 2008 and (f) 2009.

Damian Green: The information required is not centrally recorded in the format requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Entry Clearances: Domestic Service

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many domestic workers accompanied diplomats on a (a) domestic worker (diplomat) and (b) Tier 5 International Agreement visa in 2010.

Damian Green: Since November 2008 overseas domestic workers accompanying diplomats can enter only through the tier 5 international agreement route.
	There were 453 individuals issued with entry clearance visas under the points-based system, Tier 5 - International Agreement route in 2010. Figures for domestic workers accompanying diplomats cannot be individually identified within this category.
	The latest Home Office immigration statistics on entry clearance visas issued in the calendar year 2010, together with earlier data, are given in table 'be.04' of the statistical release 'Immigration Statistics April to June 2011'. This publication is available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Science website at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/immigration-asylum-research/immigration-q2-2011/

Entry Clearances: Domestic Service

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information is provided to migrant domestic workers during the visa issuing procedure on their rights in the UK.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency does not advise applicants on the category of the immigration rules they should apply under. The onus is on the applicant to determine the category that is most applicable to their circumstances. The UK Border Agency website provides information on the UK immigration rules and informs applicants of their rights in the UK under every category, including domestic workers.

Entry Clearances: Domestic Service

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information her Department holds on the number of embassies which have objected to migrant domestic workers they have employed changing their employer within the immigration rules.

Damian Green: Overseas domestic workers in diplomatic households are only able to switch employer within the mission. The Home Office is not aware of any embassies that have objected to overseas domestic workers switching in this way.

Entry Clearances: Domestic Service

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many migrant domestic workers referred into the National Referral Mechanism had come to the UK on a domestic worker (diplomat) or Tier 5 entry clearance visa.

Damian Green: Between 1 April 2009 and 30 June 2011, 14 migrant domestic workers referred into the National Referral Mechanism had come to the UK on a domestic worker (diplomat) or Tier 5 entry clearance visa.
	The figure quoted is internal management information only and is subject to change.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many student visas were granted to foreign nationals from (a) Uganda and (b) the East African community in each of the last five years. [R]

Damian Green: The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Sum of issued 
			 Country 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 
			 Burundi 8 10 7 9 5 
			 Kenya 1,001 912 1,038 954 914 
			 Rwanda 60 70 70 55 58 
			 Tanzania 1,095 911 947 582 476 
			 Uganda 519 587 628 470 399 
		
	
	The data is based on management information. It is provisional and subject to change.

Government Procurement Card

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 13 October 2011, Official Report, column 505W, on the Government Procurement Card, 
	(1)  what items of procurement card spending are considered sensitive as a matter of policy; and for what reason such items are considered sensitive;
	(2)  which items of expenditure by her Department made on the Government Procurement Card require redaction on grounds of sensitivity; and for what reason the expenditure is considered sensitive in each case.

Damian Green: The Home Office does not have an overarching policy on the publication of transactions made on Government Procurement Cards (GPC). Each transaction would need to be assessed on a case by case basis to decide whether the information is sensitive, and therefore needs to be redacted. Information would be regarded as sensitive and redacted from publications, in the interest of national security, or if a release would breach data protection legislation.

Government Procurement Card

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 13 October 2011, Official Report, column 506W, on the Identity and Passport Service: Government Procurement Card, 
	(1)  what the (a) date of purchase, (b) amount and (c) supplier of each transaction undertaken by the Identity and Passport Service using the Government Procurement Card was in March 2010;
	(2)  what the (a) date of purchase, (b) amount and (c) supplier was of each transaction undertaken by the Identity and Passport Service using the Government Procurement Card in 2009-10.

Damian Green: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (John Glen) on 13 September 2011, Official Report, column 1135W: It is not possible to provide a breakdown of each GPC transactions in these years without incurring disproportionate cost.
	Table 1, placed in the House Library, provides information on spend by the Identity and Passport Service (formerly the UK Passport Agency) through the use of Government Procurement Cards (GPC) in 2009-10 by (a) date of purchase, by month (b) amount and (c) supplier.
	The Home Department is currently working to provide a consistent method of reporting GPC spend data for transactions over £500 in value dating from 1 April 2011. We expect this information to be available on our departmental website by the end of the calendar year.

Government Procurement Card

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 13 October 2011, Official Report, column 505W, on the Government Procurement Card, what estimate her Department made of the cost of providing the information requested; and what calculations her Department used in determining that the provision of the information requested would incur disproportionate cost.

Damian Green: The estimated cost of the Home Department providing a response to the answer of 13 October 2011, Official Report, column 505W, on Government Procurement Card spend is £3,938. The calculation used to estimate this cost is (staff time) multiplied by (hourly rate) for grade of staff involved. To provide a response to the answer would have required Home Office staff to consider over 164,000 lines of transactional data.

Hillsborough Stadium

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make available to the Hillsborough Panel all of the briefing papers on the Hillsborough disaster which were submitted to Lady Thatcher when she was Prime Minister.

Theresa May: holding answer 21 October 2011
	As I said in the House of Commons on 17 October 2011, Official Report, columns 668-70, all Government papers have been made available, in full and uncensored, to the Hillsborough Independent Panel.

Human Trafficking

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information her Department holds on steps being taken by the police to encourage hotels to assist in identifying perpetrators and victims of human trafficking.

Damian Green: The Government's strategy on human trafficking sets out a commitment to exploring what further role the private sector and the public can play in tackling human trafficking.
	Combating human trafficking is part of core police business and the steps taken to identify victims and offenders are operational matters for individual police forces. All new police officers receive mandatory training on trafficking and existing officers have access to awareness material.

Identity and Passport Service: Liverpool

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress her Department has made in providing compensation payments for employees dismissed from Liverpool Passport Office on 21 March 2011.

Damian Green: Originally nine of the 14 staff who had their permanent employment terminated by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) on 21 March 2011 submitted claims to the Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal. There is a three-day hearing scheduled to commence on 8 February 2012. A case management discussion was held on 30 September and an order was made for the claimants to provide schedule of losses since leaving IPS employment by 11 November. Upon receipt of the schedule of losses, Treasury Solicitors who are acting on behalf of IPS will commence negotiations with the claimants' representatives with a view to settling the Employment Tribunal claims. Compensation payable will be considered on an individual basis.

Illegal Immigrants

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of non-UK citizens entering the UK illegally or clandestinely who were not apprehended at (a) the Port of Dover and (b) the Port of Calais in (i) 2008-09, (ii) 2009-10 and (iii) 2010-11.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency records detections of those attempting clandestine entry. Given that any persons who were not apprehended have evaded the controls there are no records of entry or estimates of those who may have done so.

Police: Harassment Warnings

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many harassment warnings have been issued by police officers to people of each (a) age group, (b) gender, (c) ethnicity and (d) region in each year since 2006.

Lynne Featherstone: The information requested is not recorded centrally.
	Offences of harassment are governed by the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. However this legislation does not provide any formal statutory framework for Police Information Notices (also commonly referred to as 'PINs' or 'harassment warnings') and responsibility for issuing them rests with individual police forces. The Crown Prosecution Service and the National Policing Improvement Agency have published guidance on the use of PINs.

Police: Pay

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she expects the Chancellor's commitment to increase the pay of police staff in England and Wales earning less than £21,000 to be implemented through the Police Staff Council for England and Wales; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: The Government's policy is to freeze the pay of public sector workers for two years except for those earning £21,000 or less, who will receive an increase of a minimum of £250. We would expect this to apply to police staff, although police staff pay is determined by police authorities and is subject to the usual negotiating processes.

Police: Pensions

Michael Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there was any change in the pension entitlement of (a) Sir Paul Stephenson and (b) John Yates following their resignation from the Metropolitan Police.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 20 October 2011
	The administration of police pension schemes is a matter for the relevant police authority. No information is held centrally on any individual police officer's pension entitlement.

Police: Rugby

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the potential effect of planned changes to police budgets on the policing of Rugby Football Union matches at Twickenham stadium.

Nick Herbert: The police are able to charge for 'special police services' under section 25 of the Police Act 1996. The policing of sports events is defined as a special police service for which the organisers can be charged for the police services that they have requested. The provision of policing at a sports event is a matter for the individual police force and the event organiser to agree between themselves.

Restraint Equipment: Detainees

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to review the techniques used to restrain detainees on aircraft.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency formally asked the National Tactical Response Group of the National Offender Management Service to conduct a review of the current restraint techniques being used by escort officers including those used during removals.
	Officials expect to receive an interim report on the review in November 2011.

Restraint Equipment: Detainees

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many detainees have been injured while being restrained during deportation from the UK in (a) the 12 months period ending on 1 September 2011 and (b) each of the previous five years.

Damian Green: Escort officers are trained in the use of control and restraint techniques, which are used only as a matter of last resort when all other alternatives of persuading a person to comply with their removal from the UK have failed or they need to be controlled for safety reasons.
	The use of restraint is legitimate and lawful so long as its use is justified, proportionate and de-escalated at the earliest opportunity when the individual has complied. Escort officers are required to submit a report each time force has been used to restrain a detainee while being removed. However separate records are not held on injuries sustained. This could be determined only by examination of each use of force or incident report submitted at disproportionate cost.

JUSTICE

Burglary: Sentencing

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in Finchley and Golders Green constituency who were convicted of burglary between September 2010 and September 2011 received custodial sentences of (a) under six months, (b) between six and 12 months, (c) between 12 and 18 months and (d) over 18 months.

Crispin Blunt: The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This centrally held information is not available at parliamentary constituency level.
	Court proceedings data, broken down by police force area, are currently available for the calendar year 2010. Data for 2011 are planned for publication in spring 2012.

Burial

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to encourage the establishment of eco-burial sites.

Jonathan Djanogly: In 2009 the Ministry of Justice published guidance for operators of natural burial grounds with advice on the legal and regulatory framework governing natural burial and information to ensure operators provide a high quality service to the bereaved and the wider community. The guidance is available on the Ministry of Justice website.
	Establishing and providing eco-burial sites is a matter for local authorities, non profit organisations or private companies.

Community Legal Advice: Finance

Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what contribution his Department has made to the Cabinet Office review of advice services funding; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: I can confirm that my Department is working closely with colleagues across Government, including the Cabinet Office, to support this work.

Coroners

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many submissions to the consultation on reforming public bodies supported full implementation of the role of chief coroner as set out in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009;
	(2)  how many submissions to the consultation on reforming public bodies referred to the office of the chief coroner;
	(3)  how many submissions to the consultation on reforming public bodies supported the Government's proposals to add the chief coroner to schedule 5 of the Public Bodies Bill.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice consultation on reforms proposed in the Public Bodies Bill closed on 11 October. Of the 2,742 responses received, 2,646 referred to the Office of the Chief Coroner. 2,607 of these were identical responses from members of the public received via the Royal British Legion campaign website.
	The Department intends to publish its response to the consultation by the end of this year. This will contain a summary of the responses received.
	Details of the consultation can be found on the Ministry of Justice website at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/reform-public-bodies.htm

Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (a) how many and (b) for what reasons claims for compensation were rejected by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in the last five years for which figures are available. [R]

Jonathan Djanogly: The information requested is outlined in the following table.
	
		
			 Scheme paragraph Criterion 2006-  0  7 2007-  0  8 2008-  0  9 2009-10 2010-11 
			 6 Injury sustained before 1 August 1964 23 24 17 15 6 
			 7A Previous claim for same injury 330 515 775 447 543 
			 7B Injury sustained in family setting before 1 October 1979 0 274 145 136 78 
			 8A Mainly, injury did not result from crime of violence 4,594 4,262 3,648 4,183 3,566 
			 9 Application did not meet restrictions in paragraph 231 205 221 322 380 
			 11 Motor vehicle cases: mainly, vehicle not used as a weapon to injure 325 321 318 346 305 
			 12 Accidental injury sustained in law enforcement: risk not justifiable 85 64 64 123 115 
			 13A Failure to report without delay 1,760 1,596 1,661 2,147 1,610 
			 13B Failure to cooperate with police in bringing assailant to justice 5,135 4,776 4,180 5,290 4,983 
			 13C Failure to cooperate with the Authority 1,729 1,451 1,531 3,685 2,126 
			 13D Conduct before, during or after the incident 3,478 3,157 3,106 3,898 3,200 
			 13E Applicants criminal record/character 4,147 4,472 4,003 4,929 3,864 
			 16A Assailant would have benefited from award 84 91 63 108 102 
			 16B Award would have been against a minors interests 1 0 1 9 5 
			 17A Assailant in family violence/abuse claim not prosecuted 1 2 7 3 2 
			 17B Violence between adults in the same family 43 33 33 79 58 
			 18 Claim not submitted within 2 years of incident 587 469 535 1,371 1,196 
			 25 Injury not serious enough to qualify for minimum award of £1,000 8,072 8,106 8,059 10,879 8,862 
			 26 Pre-existing medical condition 564 524 433 576 580 
			 Total  31,189 30,342 28,800 38,546 31,581

Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications for compensation rejected by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority were referred to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and how many such applications were successful. [R]

Jonathan Djanogly: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Volume of new applications 60,861 53,290 57,753 65,445 61,292 
			 Total number of claims rejected by CICA and appealed to the First-tier Tribunal 1,756 1,795 1,902 2,758 1,883 
			 Total decisions overturned from those cases that go to appeal 727 723 700 920 461 
		
	
	These figures reflect cases where the applicant has been refused compensation, appealed to the First-tier Tribunal and the decision has been overturned. Not all appealed cases will have been heard and decided by the Tribunals Service—Criminal Injuries Compensation. The Tribunal Service may request further information, such as special medical reports, and a case can only be heard on receipt of all requested information. Cases at appeal stage still under investigation are therefore excluded from these figures.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) number of claims and (b) total value of claims paid to residents of Sunderland local authority through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme was in the latest financial year for which figures are available. [R]

Jonathan Djanogly: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			  2010-11 
			 Total claims (number) 346 
			 Total value of awards paid (£) 922,354 
		
	
	These figures include applicants whose postcode is currently recorded as beginning SRI, SR2, SR3, SR4, SR5 or SR9.

Departmental Advertising

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department has spent on advertising job vacancies since May 2010.

Kenneth Clarke: The Ministry of Justice complies with the Government freeze on new advertising, marketing and communications spend. Under MOJ policy, no money can be committed to any advertising and marketing activity without a formal exemption from the freeze. Exemptions can only be provided by the Efficiency Reform Group (ERG) (for expenditure over £100,000) or from the MOJ Director of Communications (for expenditure below £100,000).
	All external recruitment into MOJ, in line with the rest of the civil service, is also currently frozen. The only exceptions are front-line roles and business critical roles.
	Given these controls, since May 2010, a total of £40,703.66 has been spent on advertising Ministry of Justice job vacancies. This includes all expenditure for MOJ HQ, HM Courts and Tribunals Service and the National Offender Management Service.
	The 42 probation trusts and Ministry of Justice arm’s length bodies are excluded from this response as their details are held separately and to gather it would exceed the cost limit. Information can be separately requested from the individual offices if required.

Departmental Pay

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  whether any member of the senior civil service in his Department received a salary increase between 2009-10 and 2010-11; what the posts concerned were; and what the salary paid in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11 was;
	(2)  whether any member of the senior civil service in his Department received a bonus in the year 2010-11; what the posts concerned were; and what bonus was paid in respect of each postholder in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11;
	(3)  whether any member of the senior civil service in his Department received a pay reduction in respect of poor performance in 2010-11;
	(4)  what the policy of his Department is on (a) paying members of the senior civil service bonuses for good performance and (b) pay reductions for poor performance;
	(5)  whether any members of the senior civil service for which his Department is responsible was paid more than the Prime Minister's ministerial salary in 2010-11; in respect of which posts such payments were made; and what the salary of such office holders was in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11.

Kenneth Clarke: The coalition Government announced in the 2010 Budget that all public sector pay would be subject to a 2-year pay freeze (except for staff who earn less than £21,000 per annum). This current freeze, which began in April this year, is in addition to the one-year freeze introduced previously by the previous Administration.
	The SCS pay freeze has meant that there have been no increases to base pay awarded to senior civil servants working at the Ministry of Justice for the performance years 2009-10, 2010-11 and neither will there be for 2011-12.
	For the 2010-11 performance year, 59 senior civil servants within the Ministry of Justice (including NOMS) were awarded non-consolidated performance-related payments (bonuses) as part of the end-year SCS performance management process, out of a total of 244 in scope for consideration. These 59 senior civil servants had been awarded Performance Group 1 marking as a result of the SCS end-year performance management process.
	The Prime Minister, in a statement made on 16 May 2010, announced that for the senior civil service in 2010-11, the top 25% of performers (those in Performance Group 1) in each Department would be eligible to be considered for a non-consolidated performance-related payment (a bonus). For 2010-11, the Ministry of Justice awarded non-consolidated performance-related payments to 24.2% of those senior civil servants in scope for consideration.
	(a) For the SCS performance year 2009-10, non-consolidated performance-related payments were awarded to those placed in Performance Groups 1 and 2 as part of the end-year SCS performance management process. In line with Cabinet Office guidance, non-consolidated performance-related payments were differentiated, for those in Performance Group 1 and those in Performance Group 2.
	For 2009-10, 53 SCS pay bands 2 and 3 (Directors and Directors General) were awarded non-consolidated performance-related payments and 111 were awarded to SCS Pay Bands 1 and 1A (Deputy Directors). 18 members of SCS Pay Bands 2 and 3 (Directors and Directors General) were awarded Performance Group 1 and 35 were awarded Performance Group 2. 43 members of SCS pay bands 1 and 1A (Deputy Directors) were awarded Performance Group 1 and 68 were awarded Performance Group 2.
	For the 2009-10 SCS performance year, the following amounts were payable to each pay band:
	
		
			 £ 
			  Performance Group 1 Performance Group 2 
			 Pay Band 1 7,500 3,500 
			 Pay Band 2 10,000 6,000 
			 Pay Band 3 10,000 6,000 
		
	
	(b) For the SCS performance year 2010-11, non-consolidated performance-related payments were awarded to only those awarded Performance Group 1. 16 members of SCS pay bands 2 and 3 (Directors and Directors General) and 43 members of SCS pay bands 1 and 1A (Deputy Directors) received Performance Group 1 and therefore were awarded non-consolidated performance-related payments.
	For the 2010-11 performance year, the following amounts were payable to each pay band:
	
		
			 £ 
			 SCS pay band Agreed non-consolidated   performance-related   payment (bonus) 2010  -  11 
			 1/1A 7,500 
			 2 10,000 
			 3 12,000 
		
	
	No SCS members within the Ministry of Justice (including NOMS) received a pay reduction in respect of poor performance in 2010-11.
	SCS staff are eligible for non-consolidated, performance-related payments. The Prime Minister, in a statement made on 16 May last year, announced that for the SCS in 2010-11, the top 25% of performers in each Department would be eligible to be considered for (could receive) a non-consolidated performance-related pay award so that in future only those making an exceptional contribution would be rewarded. This remains the position for 2011-12.
	There is no mechanism under the current SCS remuneration system by which pay may be reduced for poor performance.
	The Prime Minister's total remuneration package is £142,500.
	In 2009-10 and 2010-11 there were 10 SCS members within the Ministry of Justice (including NOMS) who earned a basic salary of more than £142,500. In 2009-10, two were members of SCS pay band 2 (Directors), seven were members of SCS pay band 3 (Directors General) and one was the Permanent Secretary. In 2010-11, four were members of SCS pay band 2 (Directors), five were members of SCS pay band 3 (Directors General) and one was the Permanent Secretary.
	For 2010-11, senior civil servant salaries for Deputy Directors, Directors, Directors General and the Permanent Secretary were published on the Ministry's website and this can be obtained through the following link:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/transparency-data/senior-civil-service-salaries-and-organograms.htm

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many meetings he has had with representatives of (a) social enterprises, (b) charities, (c) large private sector businesses and (d) small and medium-sized private sector businesses since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Kenneth Clarke: The Ministry of Justice publishes details of meetings that all Justice Ministers, including myself, hold with external organisations. This is published on ministerial gifts, meetings and hospitality returns on a quarterly basis and is available on the Ministry of Justice website at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/corporate-reports/moj/index.htm
	The next return (April 2011 to June 2011) has been collated and will be published in the near future.

Departmental Training

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many external training courses staff of his Department attended in the last 12 months; and what the cost to the public purse was of each course.

Kenneth Clarke: No central records are held of either staff attending external training courses, or the cost of each course. Responsibility for training budgets and the booking of courses is devolved to business areas and local line managers. Collating detailed information on the number of courses and the cost of each course would incur a disproportionate.
	The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) commissions learning and development interventions to ensure that it meets its business needs, reinforces professional standards, provides high quality learning and represents best value for money. The vast majority of business specific training is developed ‘in-house’ because of the specialist skills required to either work in the custodial environment, or operate our specific business processes. Generic training is sourced from civil service learning. There are occasions when it is necessary for MOJ to procure learning from an external provider.

Departmental Voluntary Work

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what volunteering (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department have undertaken as part of the One Day Challenge; what the nature of the work undertaken was; on what dates it took place; and what the names were of the organisations assisted.

Kenneth Clarke: The Giving White Paper published on 23 May 2011 outlines the Government’s proposals to encourage charitable giving. As part of this, all Ministry of Justice Ministers have pledged to undertake a “One Day Challenge”—a voluntary commitment to give one day of their time to a charity or community group of their choice. I and my ministerial colleagues will fulfil this commitment over the coming months.

Disability Living Allowance: Appeals

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in Motherwell and Wishaw constituency have won an appeal against the withdrawal of their disability living allowance at a tribunal in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jonathan Djanogly: Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service does not hold data specific to the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency. However, the majority of appeals against a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) decision on an individual's entitlement to disability living allowance, made by people in this constituency, are heard in the Social Security and Child Support First-tier Tribunal hearing venue in Hamilton. This venue also hears appeals from other nearby locations.
	Between April 2011 and August 2011, the most recent period for which figures are available, there were 510 appeals against a DWP decision on an individual's entitlement to disability living allowance decided at hearing in the Hamilton hearing venue, of which 180 were found in favour of the appellant.

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to his contribution of 29 June 2011, Official Report, column 984, on the second reading of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, when he plans to provide details of the fund for not-for-profit legal advice centres.

Jonathan Djanogly: Further to the announcement made by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), on 29 June 2011, Official Report, column 984, I can confirm that the Cabinet Office is responsible for the distribution of the England portion of the £20 million fund for not-for-profit advice providers. Cabinet Office officials are working with the Treasury and my Department on agreeing the criteria for funding. Further details of the funding criteria and process will be announced by the Cabinet Office in the next few weeks.

Magistrates: Training

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department has spent on (a) the Judicial Studies Board and (b) training for magistrates in respect of new sentencing guidelines in the last 12 months.

Kenneth Clarke: From 1 April 2011, training for judicial office holders in the courts and in most tribunals became the responsibility of the Judicial College. The Judicial College was created by bringing together separate arrangements that had previously existed for training judicial office holders in the courts (the Judicial Studies Board) and Tribunals Service (through the Tribunals Judicial Training Group).
	The total expenditure for the Judicial Studies Board (JSB) for the period 2010-11 was £6,759,000. A summary of the expenditure for the JSB is shown in the annual report for 2010-11 which is available on the Judiciary website at:
	www.judiciary.gov.uk
	Financial data for 2011-12 will be available next.
	The only new sentencing guidelines within the last 12 months that the Judicial College has provided training material for are the new assault sentencing guidelines which came into effect on 13 June 2011. Training materials were distributed to magistrates’ courts in April and were then delivered locally by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) trainers. Costs actually incurred by HMCTS in the delivery of this training will not be provided to the Judicial College until the end of the current financial year.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many appeals against benefit decisions in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK are outstanding and awaiting processing.

Jonathan Djanogly: Appeals against benefit decisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions are heard by the First-tier Tribunal—Social Security and Child Support (SSCS).
	There are always a number of 'live' appeals in the SSCS Tribunal at different stages of processing. The number of live SSCS appeals in Scotland at 31 August 2011, the most recent period for which statistics have been published, was 13,300. In the UK, excluding Northern Ireland where appeals are heard by The Tribunals Service Northern Ireland, there were 168,400 live cases at 31 August 2011.
	These figures do not include cases that have been lodged with the Department for Work and Pensions for reconsideration of their decision but which have not yet been referred to the Tribunal.

Third Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many letters he has received on funding for civil society organisations within his Department's area of responsibility in each month since 1 June 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice funds many different civil sector organisations and has correspondence with many more. The number of letters referring to both successful and unsuccessful funding bids and to funding issues in general is not monitored by the Department.
	The Department is funding various civil sector organisations over the three financial years 2011-14 in the policy areas of legal aid, reducing reoffending, victims and witnesses, coroners and international.

Victims’ Levy

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  with reference to his Department's press notice of 26 September 2011, what methodology his Department used to determine the total sum to be raised from prisoners' earnings for the purposes of funding victim support services;
	(2)  what the average annual cash payment to an individual prisoner through the new victims' levy is likely to be in (a) the next 12 months and (b) each of the next five years;
	(3)  how many prisoners will have to pay the victims' levy from their earnings in (a) the next 12 months and (b) each of the next five years;
	(4)  what estimate he has made of the revenue likely to be raised for victim support by the levy on prisoner earnings in (a) the next 12 months and (b) each of the next five years.

Crispin Blunt: Our expectation, that deductions under the Prisoner's Earnings Act 1996 will generate up to £1 million per year, was informed by prisoner earnings data that were collected from those prisoners working out of Category D prisons in summer 2010. This remains our best estimate of revenue for the next 12 months and we have assumed that this figure remains constant over time in real terms, which may not in fact prove to be the case.
	Prisoner earnings vary considerably depending on hourly rates and hours worked; therefore there will be large variations in the amount each prisoner contributes, depending on their earnings. For a prisoner working full-time on the national minimum wage deductions through the Prisoners' Earnings Act would be approximately £65 a week or approximately £3,000 per year.
	At the time of the prisoner earnings data collection in summer 2010 there were 459 prisoners in Category D prisons whose earnings would have been eligible for deductions under the Prisoners' Earnings Act 1996. This remains our best yearly estimate.

Victims’ Levy

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what mechanism he put in place to ensure the process for the allocation of proceeds from the levy on prisoners’ earnings was transparent;
	(2)  what criteria he considered when deciding that the proceeds from the levy on prisoners' earnings would be given to Victim Support;
	(3)  what services Victim Support is contracted to provide from the proceeds of the levy on prisoners’ earnings in (a) the next 12 months and (b) each remaining year of the arrangements under which they receive such funding;
	(4)  whether other organisations from the voluntary and charitable sector were given an opportunity to bid for a share of the proceeds from the levy on prisoners’ earning;
	(5)  whether he will place in the Library a copy of the contract his Department made with Victim Support in respect of the proceeds from the levy on earnings of prisoners; and if he will make a statement;

Crispin Blunt: The Prisoners' Earnings Act (PEA) enables deductions from prisoners' earnings in certain circumstances pending the introduction of a wider power to do so which is contained in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill currently before Parliament.
	It is a statutory requirement of the PEA that the recipient or recipients of its proceeds is/are formally prescribed by the Secretary of State. He has prescribed that the funds should go to Victim Support.
	The Coalition programme for government and the Green Paper ‘Breaking the Cycle’, published by the Ministry of Justice in December 2011, committed to implementing the Act with the aim of deductions from the earnings of prisoners going towards services which support victims.
	In deciding which organisation or organisations to prescribe we took account of the uncertainty about the amount of revenue the PEA would generate which results from the difficulty in predicting how many prisoners would be engaged in qualifying work. This uncertainty rendered the PEA revenue unsuitable for a competitive funding process. It also meant that any prescribed organisation needed to possess sufficient capacity to deliver the project or projects the PEA was intended to fund if the revenue actually raised proved lower than anticipated.
	As the PEA represents the first time prisoners have contributed in this way we wanted the proceeds to go to an organisation which worked nationally with a broad range of victims of crime. Victim Support is the principal provider of support for victims in England and Wales and has over 35 years' experience of the sector. Its national coverage and size made it the ideal choice.
	The Ministry of Justice has not entered into a contract with Victim Support for the PEA revenue. Victim Support is currently considering a number of potential projects and will make a final decision once it is known how much revenue will be raised through the levy. A contract will be entered into at that time, prior to the money raised from the PEA being passed to Victim Support.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Adam Werritty

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether Ministers in his Department have met Mr Adam Werritty in an official capacity (a) with and (b) without officials present since May 2010.

Bob Neill: No Ministers in this Department have had meetings with Mr Werritty.

Council Tax: Arrears

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many times local authorities have taken people to court for the recovery of council tax arrears in the latest period for which figures are available.

Bob Neill: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not collect figures on the number of times local authorities have taken people to court for the recovery of council tax arrears.

Departmental Allowances

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much members of his departmental management board have claimed in expenses since May 2010.

Bob Neill: The expenses are published quarterly on the DCLG website as follows:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/transparencyingovernment/staffdata/businessexpenses/
	The expenses are usually published within the month after the quarter ending. The expenses for July to September are currently being compiled and will be available at a later date.

Departmental Billing

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in July and August 2010.

Bob Neill: In July 2010 the Department for Communities and Local Government paid 90.85% of invoices within 10 days of receipt and in August 2010 90.24% of invoices were paid within 10 days.

Departmental Billing

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average cost to his Department was of processing the payment of an invoice in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of invoices settled in that period his Department paid (a) electronically and (b) by cheque.

Bob Neill: The average cost of processing the payment of an invoice, based on data for the last 12 months is £2.62. Of the invoices processed by DCLG in that period, 99.998% were made electronically with just 0.002% paid by cheque.

Departmental Consultants

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what procedures his Department uses when engaging external consultants.

Bob Neill: In line with Cabinet Office guidance, the Department has placed an immediate freeze on consulting expenditure, unless it is of operational necessity and the work cannot be undertaken by civil servants.
	Procedures have been introduced whereby Ministers and the permanent secretary review all consultancy contracts of £20,000 or more on a three-monthly basis and ensuring that any proposals to extend contracts longer than nine months are jointly approved by the Cabinet Office Minister and Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
	Procurement procedures that can be used include:
	Use of the new Government Dynamic Marketplace;
	Call off from existing government frameworks; and
	Open restricted or other EU procedures for bespoke requirements above the EU threshold of approximately £100,000

Departmental Location

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many civil servants in his Department have been (a) relocated and (b) agreed for relocation in the last 12 months; and to which areas of the UK.

Bob Neill: The Department for Communities and Local Government has not relocated any civil servants, nor agreed to relocate any civil servants, in the last 12 months.

Departmental Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many meetings he has had with representatives of (a) social enterprises, (b) charities, (c) large private sector businesses and (d) small and medium-sized private sector businesses since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: Details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis, and are available at:
	www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/transparencyin government/ministerialdata/

Departmental Meetings

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many meetings he has had with (a) trade unions, (b) construction firms, (c) firms providing services to local authorities and (d) lobbyists since May 2010.

Bob Neill: Details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis, and are available at:
	www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/transparencyin government/ministerialdata/

Departmental Pay

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will estimate the total monetary value of London weightings and London living allowances for staff in his Department.

Bob Neill: DCLG staff do not receive either a London weighting or a London living allowance. Like many other Departments, DCLG operates a London pay range (for staff based in London and surrounding areas) and a national pay range.
	It would not be appropriate to calculate the cost of employing equivalent London staff working outside of London as this would be purely hypothetical.

Departmental Security

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to improve cyber-security in relation to his Department's estate; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: Government take cyber security very seriously and it has been categorised as a tier one threat to UK national security. £650 million is being invested over the next four years in a National Cyber Security Programme, working across Departments with the private sector, international partners and citizens to improve the UK's cyber security capability.
	Department for Communities and Local Government routinely assesses the prevailing threats to its ICT systems and applies appropriate and proportionate measures in accordance with the government standards set out in the Cabinet Office's Security Policy Framework; these standards are aligned with industry best practice approaches.

Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what methodology his Department used to cost the proposal for weekly bin collections; and whether the funding for the proposal will come from his Department’s existing budget.

Bob Neill: The new weekly collections support scheme, announced on 30 September will make up to £250 million available to councils to help them deliver weekly collections of household waste. The scheme will be funded by money from DCLG’s unallocated resource budget as reported in the annual report and accounts for 2010-11. This is therefore additional funding for local government over and above that already announced.
	The funding will support councils which switch from fortnightly to better weekly collections, and will support weekly collection councils which wish to keep and improve the weekly service they offer, such as through better procurement, new technologies and reward schemes like Recyclebank and others.
	In due course, we will make a further statement on the detail of this scheme and the details for inviting councils to submit innovative bids for funding. However, councils will be able to bid individually or in consortiums, and with the private sector, where that increases value for money. In order to encourage the most innovative and locally tailored solutions, authorities will be able to bid for a mix of revenue and capital funding.

Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to encourage local authorities to provide better and more frequent rubbish and recycling collections.

Bob Neill: As announced on the 30 September, we are launching a new Weekly Collections Support scheme worth up to £250 million to councils to help them deliver weekly collections of household waste.
	The funding will support councils which switch from fortnightly to better weekly collections, and will support weekly collection councils which wish to keep and improve the weekly service they offer, such as through better procurement, new technologies and reward schemes like Recyclebank and others. Councils will be able to bid individually or in consortiums, and with the private sector, where that increases value for money. In order to encourage the most innovative and locally tailored solutions, authorities will be able to bid for a mix of revenue and capital funding.
	We are funding this scheme from DCLG’s unallocated resource budget, as reported in the Annual Report and Accounts for 2010-11. Further details of this scheme, inviting councils to submit innovative bids for funding, will be released in due course.
	Furthermore, the Government have already moved to remove Audit Commission guidance and inspections which marked down councils who do not adopt fortnightly rubbish collections; and to abolish Local Area Agreements imposed by Whitehall which created perverse incentives to downgrade waste collection services.

Email

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether any (a) Ministers, (b) officials and (c) special advisers in his Department use private e-mail accounts for the conduct of Government business.

Bob Neill: The Ministerial Code, the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, and the Civil Service Code set out how Ministers, officials and special advisers should conduct Government business.

Enterprise Zones: Staffordshire

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  if he will place in the Library a copy of the information his Department holds on the expression of interest relating to the Staffordshire/Stoke-on-Trent LE2 submission;
	(2)  if he will place in the Library a copy of the information his Department holds on the bid by the Staffordshire/Stoke-on-Trent Local Enterprise Partnership in respect of the LE2 Round 2 bid process.

Greg Clark: holding answer 9 September 2011
	The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Local Enterprise Partnership have advised that their expression of interest and bid documents contain information that is commercially confidential. However, the summary document which the partnership shared with a number of local MPs, including the hon. Member, will be published on the Local Enterprise Partnership's website shortly.

Government Procurement Card

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the publication of his Department’s Government procurement card data, which Ministers attended (a) Boisdales, (b) Brassiere 44, (c) the National Cafe and (d) the Wolseley using the Government procurement card between May 2006 and May 2010; and what the (i) cost and (ii) purpose was of each event.

Bob Neill: The events at the Wolseley on 2 December 2008 and 5 June 2009 were attended by Baroness Andrews and officials of the Department. I am informed that the first was to discuss the handling of forthcoming legislation, and the second was to discuss the handover of policy portfolios.
	Detailed records for the event or attendance at the Boisdale on 3 April 2008 are not held. The transaction was made by the private office of Baroness Andrews.
	No Ministers attended the other events.
	My Department is committed to greater transparency over the use of the Government procurement card than under the last Administration, and has strengthened checks and balances to ensure protection of taxpayers’ money.

Housing Benefit: Universal Credit

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to consult representatives of local authority trade unions on the plan for transition from housing benefit to universal credit.

Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply.
	It is the responsibility of local authorities to engage with trade unions under agreed local arrangements for consultation. We are engaging with local authorities to understand the changes that will arise as a result of transition to universal credit, which will inform these dialogues.

Housing: Change of Use

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if the Government will accept the recommendations in the Taylor Review of Rural Economy and Affordable Housing on allowing local planning committees to decide on change of use from local residency to holiday let or second home.

Bob Neill: holding answer 21 October 2011
	The Government response to the Taylor Review was published under the last Administration. That response stated:
	“The Government does not agree that it is appropriate or desirable to seek to limit the occupation or ownership of second homes.”
	The Community Right to Build Order set out in the Localism Bill will contribute to affordable housing in rural areas. It will allow communities to take forward small-scale development on a specific site so long as the proposal has received majority support in a community referendum.

Landlords

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information he holds on the effectiveness of landlord accreditation schemes.

Grant Shapps: The Department does not hold information on the effectiveness of landlord accreditation schemes which are set up and run by local authorities. Local authorities are best placed to judge the needs and priorities of their own area and the effectiveness of local schemes. Information about schemes is also available from ANUK (Accreditation Network-UK) which was formed to publicise, promote and share good practice in accreditation.

Metals: Theft

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department has issued guidance to local authorities on dealing with metal theft.

Bob Neill: DCLG does not issue any guidance to local authorities on dealing with metal theft. Guidance issued to address metal theft would be most associated with the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 and this policy rests with the Home Office.
	The Government recognise the severity of metal theft and the damage it causes to communities and businesses across the UK. It is clear that metal theft is a growing problem for many communities, and local authorities themselves are often victims from metal theft, in particular, with the theft of street furniture.
	Discussions are now taking place across Government Departments to identify whether any legislative changes should be made to the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 in order to address this.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Neil Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the mortgage rescue scheme; how many successful applications there have been since its inception; and what proportion of all applications this figure represents.

Grant Shapps: The Government Mortgage Rescue Scheme is designed to be an option of last resort for vulnerable homeowners who are at risk of repossession and homelessness. The Government reviewed the scheme in July 2010, and again in February 2011, and made changes to improve the value for money by reducing unit costs to ensure that the scheme can help as many households as possible.
	I refer my hon. Friend to the National Audit Office report of May 2011 (HC 1030, 2010-12) which was critical of the scheme that was introduced by the last Government, for not delivering value for money. Such criticisms vindicate the decision of the new administration to reform and improve the scheme.
	Mortgage Rescue Scheme statistics published in May 2011 and covering the period up to the end of March 2011 show that 2,621 households have completed the process to remain in their home. These published statistics also show that almost 39,000 households had received free advice from their local authority about their mortgage difficulties.
	The Homes and Communities Agency will publish the Scheme statistics for the period April to September 2011 in November. These will show the latest number of cases referred from providers (lead Housing Associations) and the number of cases which have led to completion.

Non-domestic Rates

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what definition of disproportionate benefit he plans to use when recouping business rates from local authorities as proposed in his Department's consultation on retention of business rates.

Bob Neill: The Government's proposals for business rates retention sought views on how a levy on disproportionate benefit might be calculated in order to help provide a safety net to protect authorities that see significant negative volatility in their business rates income. The consultation, which closes on 24 October, proposed three options. The Government will consider responses to that consultation before deciding how to take forward the proposals.

Planning Permission

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to ensure that the national planning policy framework 
	(1)  meets the development needs of people, the environment and the economy;
	(2)  requires developers to take into consideration the effects of planning proposals on (a) communities, (b) nature and (c) the landscape.

Greg Clark: The draft National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. It states that, for the planning system, delivering sustainable development means building a strong, responsive competitive economy; promoting strong, vibrant and healthy communities; and protecting and enhancing our natural, built and historic environment. These three components should be pursued in an integrated way, looking for solutions that achieve multiple goals.
	The draft framework also states that, when determining planning applications, local planning authorities should aim to conserve and enhance biodiversity. Planning permission should be refused for development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats, unless the need for, and benefits of, the development in that location clearly outweigh the loss. If significant harm resulting from a development cannot be avoided, adequately mitigated, or, as a last resort, compensated for, then planning permission should be refused.

Property Development: Floods

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will assess the merits of including internal drainage boards and water utility companies in North East Cambridgeshire as statutory consultees when assessing flooding risk associated with planning development.

Bob Neill: holding answer 21 October 2011
	The Department have no plans at present to amend the statutory consultation arrangements for planning applications, as set out in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2010, to require consultation with drainage boards and water utility companies on planning applications.
	The Government expect local planning authorities to work with infrastructure providers from an early stage in the local plan process to ensure that they are actively involved in shaping its proposals. Drainage boards and utility companies may also wish to work with local authorities to identify individual planning applications where consultation with drainage boards and water utility companies would be beneficial.

Rights of Way

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his proposals under the National Planning Policy Framework recognise public rights of way; how such rights of way will be enforced under the Framework; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark: Paragraph 128 of the draft framework states that planning policies should protect and enhance rights of way and access. We are currently considering responses to the consultation on the draft framework before this is finalised.

Tenants' Rights

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will take steps to protect tenants in respect of (a) private rented sector landlords and (b) estate agents who are found to be in breach of his Department's guidance on the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants.

Grant Shapps: My Department's guidance on the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants reflects the existing legislative framework which already contains safeguards for tenants where landlords or agents fail in their responsibilities.

Tenants' Rights

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to promote his Department's guidance on the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants among (a) landlords, (b) tenants and (c) estate agents in the private rented sector; and if he will make a statement.

Grant Shapps: My Department recently published fact sheets providing basic guidance on rights and responsibilities for both tenants and landlords on the departmental website:
	www.communities.gov.uk
	The fact sheets have been promoted to a range of industry and consumer groups, and we are encouraged to see that they are being well used. Where appropriate, landlords, tenants and agents are also directed to the fact sheets in all correspondence between my Department and the general public.

Tenants' Rights: Disability

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 13 September 2011, Official Report, column 1089W, on consumers, what support his Department offers to (a) blind and partially-sighted tenants and (b) tenants with a disability to make them aware of the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants; and if he will make a statement.

Grant Shapps: My Department's fact sheets for landlords and tenants were published on the departmental website:
	www.communities.gov.uk
	which complies with the Worldwide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. The Department's published documents are always available in alternative formats—Braille, large print, easy read, British Sign Language and audio versions can all be provided on request.
	Guidance for landlords and tenants is also available on the Government website Directgov, which is an accessible website. Details can be obtained from:
	http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Hl1/Help/Accessibility/DG_10016906
	Directgov's content is written for a reading age of nine which aids understanding for those with learning difficulties.

TRANSPORT

Air Travel Organisers' Licensing Reform

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  when she plans to publish her Department’s response to the consultation on Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing reform;
	(2)  how many responses her Department received in the consultation on Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing reform;
	(3)  how many representations received during the consultation process on Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing reform expressed concern about the date by which the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing certificate would be implemented.

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the likely roll-out time for the proposed ATOL certificate.

Theresa Villiers: The Department received over 80 formal responses to the recent consultation on proposals for reform of the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL) scheme.
	After considering the consultation responses I plan to announce the decisions for the way forward for ATOL reform, including the timing of implementation. This announcement will be made later in the autumn.

Air Travel Organisers' Licensing Reform

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the level of consumer awareness of the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing scheme.

Theresa Villiers: The Department has not conducted any research specifically into consumer awareness of the current Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing scheme.
	However, the 2011 ABTA Consumers Trends Survey showed that 74% of people believe that ATOL financial protection is ‘essential or important’ when booking a holiday.

Air Travel Organisers' Licensing Reform

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she proposes to widen the scope of the air travel organisers’ licensing scheme to flight and hotel holidays sold by airlines.

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects to bring forward legislation on including holidays sold by airlines within a scheme of financial protection.

Theresa Villiers: The ATOL reform consultation, which took place between 23 June and 15 September 2011, asked whether airline holiday sales should be brought under the protection of the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL) scheme. To do so would require new primary legislation. We are analysing the responses and plan to announce the decision on this later in the autumn.

Air Travel Organisers' Licensing Reform

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she plans to publish details on the information required on an ATOL certificate.

Theresa Villiers: The information requirements for the ATOL certificate are being decided through consultation with the Civil Aviation Authority's ATOL Certificate Working Group, which includes members of the travel industry. The CAA will publish full details on the appearance and content of the ATOL certificate later in the autumn.

Air Travel Organisers' Licensing Reform

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she plans to exempt business travel from the reformed ATOL scheme; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: The Government consulted on proposed reforms to the Air Travel Organisers Licensing (ATOL) scheme between 23 June and 15 September 2011. The treatment of business travel under the proposed reforms is an issue mentioned in a number of consultation responses.
	I am currently considering all the responses and plan to make an announcement on the way forward with the reforms later in the autumn.

Air Travel Trust Fund

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport by what date she expects the Air Travel Trust Fund to return to surplus.

Theresa Villiers: The Air Travel Trust Fund (ATTF) meets the costs of refunds and repatriation assistance provided to the consumers of insolvent businesses under the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL) scheme.
	The Civil Aviation Authority run the ATOL scheme and believes that the ATTF should return to surplus within three years of the introduction of the proposed reforms which were recently consulted on by the Government. The actual timing depends on factors such as the cost of future insolvencies of ATOL licensed businesses and the Fund's income, both of which are difficult to predict with certainty.

Aviation

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what timetable she has established for the commencement of pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Aviation Bill.

Theresa Villiers: As the then Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), set out in his statements to the House on 21 July 2010, Official Report, columns 20-22WS and 3 March 2011, Official Report, column 42WS, we plan to introduce legislation early in the next session to reform the existing statutory framework for regulation at designated airports. We intend to publish draft legislation later this year. Further details will be announced in due course.

Aviation: Tickets

Jo Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what representations she has received on (a) the legality of downgrading customers if a commercial flight is oversold and (b) the appropriateness of a statutory obligation to provide 75% compensation;
	(2)  whether she has considered steps to tackle overselling on commercial flights.

Theresa Villiers: Overbooking is a widespread practice among full-service scheduled airlines. In the comparatively small proportion of cases where an airline denies passengers boarding against their will, EC Regulation 261/2004 requires air carriers to provide prescribed minimum levels of financial compensation, in addition to offering passengers a choice between re-routeing and reimbursement. These rules are enforced by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Channel Tunnel Railway Line: Freight

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether her Department is taking steps to increase the volume of rail freight that can be transported between Britain and Europe via the channel tunnel.

Theresa Villiers: UK channel tunnel freight paths became open access in 2006 and Eurotunnel subsequently agreed lower rates for rail freight. These initiatives have increased the number of rail freight services through the channel tunnel, some of which are operated by new open access operators. The continued development of rail freight through channel tunnel is a matter for the private sector operators.

Civil Aviation Authority

Jo Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Civil Aviation Authority.

Theresa Villiers: Ministers and officials at the Department meet the Civil Aviation Authority regularly to discuss a range of issues including its duties and performance. There have been a number of changes to the CAA's internal arrangements following the report of the independent strategic review undertaken by Sir Joseph Pilling in 2008. Other reforms would require primary legislation.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Olympic Games 2012

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many additional vehicles her Department expects will use the Dartford Crossing during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games; and what plans she has to manage the change in the number of such vehicles.

Theresa Villiers: The Department does not anticipate significant increases in traffic volumes at the Dartford-Thurrock river during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.
	The transport strategy for the 2012 games promotes the use of public transport and the Highways Agency is working closely with the Olympic Delivery Authority on the delivery of that strategy.
	The plans for spectator transport include the provision of strategic park and ride sites either side of the crossing at Lakeside and Ebbsfleet—the latter providing a connection to the nearby Javelin rail shuttle from Ebbsfleet International station.
	The crossing forms part of the ‘alternative’ section of the Olympic Route Network and as such will be used by vehicles transporting athletes, officials and the media in the event that the main core and venue routes are not available for any reason.

East Coast Railway Line

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the annual cost has been to Directly Operated Railways of operating the East Coast mainline rail franchise; and how much was paid in subsidies to National Express in each year that it held the East Coast rail franchise.

Theresa Villiers: The cost to Directly Operated Railways (DOR) of providing management services to the East Coast Main Line Company Ltd is set out in DOR's annual report and accounts. These are available on the company's website at:
	www.directlyoperatedrailways.co.uk
	No subsidy was paid to National Express during the period that the company held the East Coast rail franchise

Great Western Railway Line

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to her Department's announcement of 14 July 2011, what the monetary value is of each project that forms part of her plans for the Great Western Main Line; and what the completion date is for each such project.

Theresa Villiers: The Government have committed to funding a significant upgrade of the Great Western Main Line between now and 2019.
	Doubling of the Swindon to Kemble line will be complete by 2015 at a cost of £45 million. Reading station improvements will be delivered by 2015 at a cost of £850 million. Electrification will be ready for passenger service by 2017 at a cost of £1 billion.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps she is taking to ensure that High Speed 2 will be used at maximum capacity from its first day of operation.

Justine Greening: We anticipate that demand for HS2 would be likely to continue to grow in the years after the line opens. Therefore, it is important to provide additional capacity at opening in order to accommodate this build-up. If, following my decisions later this year, the project is progressed, we will seek to ensure HS2 is designed so as to maximise its attractiveness to passengers.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many services she expects to run in each direction on High Speed 2 per (a) hour and (b) day on its first day of operation.

Justine Greening: Phase 1 of the proposed HS2 network, from London to the West Midlands, would operate with up to 14 trains per hour in each direction at peak times and 10 during off peak periods. Indicative timetables are set out in the “Technical Appendix”, at
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/topics/high-speed-rail/key-facts/

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Finance

Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will estimate the saving on the costs of the HS2 project which would arise if the tunnel from Old Oak Common to Euston and the infrastructure and building works at Euston were omitted.

Justine Greening: holding answer 19 October 2011
	Appendix C of HS2 Ltd’s 2009 Cost and Risk Model shows an indicative breakdown of costs for different sections of the route, including the route from Old Oak Common to Euston, and the works that would be required at Euston station. This can be found at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dft. gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/riskmodel/pdf/report.pdf

London and South Eastern Railway: Rolling Stock

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport from which companies the London and South Eastern Railway and its predecessor franchisees have leased rolling stock; how many and what types of rolling stock have been leased; and what the costs of such leasing has been in each year since 1994.

Theresa Villiers: Information on the numbers and different types of rolling stock leased by train companies, and from whom, is in the public domain. For example, the Rail Guide 2011 produced by Ian Allan Publishing.
	Leasing costs are commercially sensitive. Inquiries on this subject should be directed to the rolling stock owners and train operators.

Motorways: Speed Limits

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will withdraw her Department's proposals to increase the speed limit on motorways to 80 miles per hour.

Michael Penning: holding answer 20 October 2011
	On 3 October 2011, the then Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), announced his intention to consult on raising the national speed limit on motorways from 70 mph to 80 mph. The Government plan to launch a full public consultation on the issue later this year with a view to implementing any change in early 2013.

Railways

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps her Department is taking to support the domestic (a) train manufacturing industry and its supply chain and (b) onshore engineering skills.

Theresa Villiers: This Government have secured funding for a major programme of capacity enhancement for both National Rail and the London Underground. Moreover the Government are reforming the franchise system which is likely to lead to more train operators procuring new rolling stock. These are major opportunities for the train manufacturing industry and its associated supply chain, which will see around 2700 new carriages on the national rail network by 2019.
	Moreover as part of our growth review the Government are examining issues around the approach taken in the UK to EU procurement rules. This is to compare our approach to that of other member states. We are looking at whether current procurement practice makes the best use of the rules. We are considering whether any changes should be made to place a sharper focus on the UK's strategic interests. The review is also looking at how the Government can support train manufacturing and related supply chain businesses and ensure that when they compete for work they are doing it on an equal footing with their overseas competitors.

Railways: Fares

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average fare was for a standard class passenger rail ticket between London and Edinburgh in each year since 1997.

Theresa Villiers: The Department does not hold this information, however the present range of fares for the main ticket categories are set out as follows.
	
		
			 £ 
			 Fare Type Minimum Maximum 
			 Advance single 14.50 179.50 
			 Anytime return 292.00 292.00 
			 Super off peak return 114.60 — 
			 Off peak return 202.70 — 
		
	
	Typically over 90% of the longest distance rail journeys such as Edinburgh to London are made using discounted tickets. Under 5% of these longer journeys are made using anytime return tickets. The super off peak return between Edinburgh and London is a regulated fare. The full list and present prices of all these fares is available on the National Rail enquiries website.

Railways: Fares

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions her Department has had with train operating companies regarding the length of time that can be defined as peak hour when setting fare prices.

Theresa Villiers: The length of time that can be defined as peak is set out in franchise agreements for regulated fares.
	It is up to train operators to work within the regulations when setting their peak time. Peak restrictions on unregulated fares are for train operators to determine.

Railways: Overcrowding

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent measures she has considered to alleviate passenger overcrowding and passenger standing on rail services.

Theresa Villiers: This Government have committed to a major new programme of introducing additional carriages across the most crowded parts of the rail network by March 2014 to meet the growing, demand from passengers.
	Looking beyond 2014, Thameslink and Crossrail routes have been funded with a commitment to electric new trains, releasing the existing electric trains for further use. By the end of this decade we will have added around 2,700 new carriages to the rail network, of which around 1,800 will be additional capacity. However, passenger growth is forecast to continue and that is why we are considering the case for a new high speed railway for the next decade.

Railways: Safety

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps her Department is taking to improve (a) passenger safety at rail stations and (b) safety at railway level crossings following the Office of Rail Regulation's Health and Safety report 2011.

Theresa Villiers: Safety and the reduction of risks, so far as is reasonably practicable, at both stations and level crossings is the responsibility of the relevant duty holder such as the station or infrastructure operator.
	This is a legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work 1974. Compliance is both monitored and enforced by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). The ORR noted the measures being taken by duty holders with regard to station and level crossing safety in their 2011 Health and Safety Report.
	Separately the Department runs the Secure Stations Scheme. Over the past 13 years this scheme has put in place a best practice programme aimed at enhancing passenger safety at railway stations through security improvements. There are currently 1,263 accredited Secure Stations across the railway network.

Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what assessment she has made of the merits of establishing separate incentive schemes for biodiesel and ethanol under the renewable transport fuel obligation;
	(2)  what representations she has received on the merits of establishing separate incentive schemes for biodiesel and ethanol under the renewable transport fuel obligation;
	(3)  how she plans to mitigate the effects of fluctuations in certificate prices under the renewable transport fuel obligation on the sustainable biodiesel industry;
	(4)  how she plans to encourage obligated fuel suppliers to meet their renewable transport fuel obligation from biodiesel produced in the UK.

Norman Baker: The Department received representations on a number of issues related to the renewable transport fuel obligation (RTFO) during consultations on the renewable energy directive (RED). These included suggestions that the RTFO should distinguish between bioethanol and biodiesel, arguing that if it did, this might provide a mechanism to drive equal demand for both products. The suggestion has been taken into account through the consultation exercise.
	The RTFO is a mechanism designed to reduce carbon emissions and promote the supply of sustainable biofuels. It does not seek to direct the market towards a particular biofuel product or method of production.
	In respect of future incentives under the RTFO and assessments of the adequacy of that mechanism in driving a market for renewable transport fuels in the UK, I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to him on 5 July 2011, Official Report, columns 1172-3W.
	In the consultation on proposals to implement the RED we proposed to provide additional support to waste-derived biofuels under an amended renewable transport fuel obligation. We expect to publish a Government response soon setting out both our plans and the timeline for implementation.

Trams: Level Crossings

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment her Department has made of the implications of the Law Commission review of level crossing legislation for the scope of heavy rail level crossing requirements to tramways.

Theresa Villiers: The Law Commission will present their formal recommendations from their review to the Department during 2012. At that time the Department will consider all of the Law Commissions' final recommendations, including those on tramways.

Vehicle and Operator Services Agency

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when her Department plans to publish the (a) environmental and (b) equality impact assessment in respect of its proposals for the VOSA Testing Transformation Project.

Michael Penning: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) completed a generic equality impact assessment (EIA) for the station closure element of the Testing Transformation Programme (TTP) as part of the formation of the TTP business case which received final approval in July 2010. The TTP business case included an assessment of the environmental impact of the project, no separate environmental impact assessment was completed.
	It is not our intention to publish this business case or the original (2009) impact assessment.
	Once a site has been identified for closure, a more specific EIA is completed by the local management team, including action plans for the resolution of issues. These are living documents, addressing staff and customer issues, which will continue to evolve as the closure process progresses.
	We are currently redesigning the generic assessment to take account of emerging guidance on new requirements, and will re-work all ‘live’ EIAs to take account of this advice. As they may contain specific and personal information (e.g. on individual members of staff), we have no plans to publish these EIAs, but they will be owned by local managers, and monitored centrally to ensure action plans address issues raised.

West Coast Railway Line

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many full-time equivalent staff in her Department are working on the negotiations with Virgin Rail Group on the extension of the Intercity West Coast rail franchise.

Theresa Villiers: Approximately three full-time members of Department for Transport staff are working on the negotiations with Virgin Rail Group. However, this varies slightly from time to time.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Departmental Billing

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the average cost to his Department was of processing the payment of an invoice in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of invoices settled in that period his Department paid (a) electronically and (b) by cheque.

Gregory Barker: The cost of processing an invoice through our outsourced service provider is estimated at £33 per invoice. 99% of payments are made electronically and 1% by cheque.

Departmental Official Visits

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department visited Israel on official business in each month since May 2010; what future visits to Israel are planned by (i) Ministers and (ii) officials in his Department in each of the next three years; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Gregory Barker: holding answer 17 October 2011
	There have been no such meetings held since May 2010 and none are currently planned.

Departmental Press: Subscriptions

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department spent on newspapers, periodicals and trade profession magazines in 2010-11.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change spent £80,200 on its press cuttings service during 2011-12. The Department does not record expenditure on newspapers, periodicals and trade profession magazines separately from overall expenditure on publications which includes the cost of the Department's own publications as well as purchased publications of all types. It would incur disproportionate costs to scrutinise all publication transactions to identify relevant amounts.

Departmental Responsibilities

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will publish the (a) dates, (b) attendees and (c) agendas of meetings attended by the (i) Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, (ii) Minister of State for Climate Change, (iii) Minister of State for Energy and (iv) Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State between 10 October and 16 October 2011.

Gregory Barker: Details of meetings between DECC Ministers and external organisations are published quarterly on the DECC website. It has been the practice of successive Administrations not to release details of internal meetings.

Electricity

Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many staff in his Department have been seconded from energy consultancies to assist with preparation of proposals on electricity market reform; and which companies have provided such secondees.

Gregory Barker: Six members of staff have been seconded from the energy consultancies identified to assist with preparation of proposals on electricity market reform:
	Poyry Management Consulting
	Deloitte
	Bain and Company
	Bright Futures NZ Ltd
	Xero Energy

Electricity: Prices

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  what information his Department holds on the number of prepayment meter customers who owe more than £200 to their existing supplier and are unable to switch electricity suppliers;
	(2)  what information his Department holds on recent trends in the number of prepayment meter customers who owe more than £200 to their supplier.

Charles Hendry: This Department does not hold the information requested. Ofgem monitors and publishes information about the number of prepayment meter customers repaying a debt (External Data Report Q1 2011). The data does not give details of the actual amount of debt repaid. During 2010, an average of 0.4 million (10%) of electricity prepayment customers, and 0.3 million (12%) of gas prepayment customers repaid a debt.

Ministerial Meetings

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department last met representatives of the Government of Israel; what issues were discussed; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Gregory Barker: holding answer 17 October 2011
	There have been no such meetings.

North Sea Oil

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 18 July 2011, Official Report, column 685W, on North Sea oil, whether he plans to send a representative to the first meeting of the Arctic Council's Oil Spill Response Taskforce; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: As a non-Arctic country, we only have observer status on the Arctic Council and therefore have neither representation on their working groups nor a role in determining their policies. However we keep in close touch with the Council, both to learn from their experiences and, where it is welcomed, to offer our advice.

Nuclear Installations

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) resources and facilities and (b) co-ordination and control in respect of clean-up and recovery in the event of a major accident at a UK civil nuclear installation.

Charles Hendry: The lead UK Government Department dealing with recovery in the event of a major civil nuclear accident in England is the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). In Wales, it is the Welsh Assembly Government, in Scotland, the Scottish Government, and in Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Executive. The Government Decontamination Service also would play a key role across the UK during the recovery from such an incident, while local authorities and their resilience forums would collaborate with relevant Government Departments and agencies during this phase.
	Proper attention has been given to the identification of the necessary resources and facilities required should the unlikely event of an emergency occur involving a nuclear installation. The National Recovery Guidance has been developed in line with and following the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 definitions. This national guidance was produced in 2007 by the National Recovery Working Group, commissioned by Ministers. New material is added to the guidance regularly as new information and guidance becomes available.
	As part of the Department's ongoing assessment and enhancement of the emergency planning and response to such incidents, we are working closely with DEFRA and other partners across Government on issues relating to the transition from the response to the recovery phase.

Nuclear Installations

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the report by HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations, September 2011, paragraph 490, on what dates and in which nuclear installations nuclear accident exercise scenarios have been extended to encompass severe accidents in order to facilitate training in Severe Accident Guidelines.

Charles Hendry: The two instances where exercise scenarios were extended into severe accident territory (paragraph 491 of the report by HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations) were as follows:
	Exercise Madonna took place in 1997 at Heysham Power Station. The scenario was based on the findings from the Hinkley Point C public inquiry, which recommended that a "beyond design basis accident" scenario should be adopted that would help to improve the ability of the police and the county emergency planning department.
	Exercise Isis took place in May 2002 at Bradwell Power Station, and was conducted following 9/11. It tested a scenario significantly beyond the design basis and involved participation by all the major organisations with an interest at both local and national level. The exercise was successful and showed that detailed plans could be extended to deal with larger events.

Nuclear Installations

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when the adequacy of arrangements for the pre-distribution of potassium iodate tablets to residents within the detailed emergency planning zone around nuclear installations was last reviewed; and what plans he has to undertake a future review.

Charles Hendry: The adequacy of arrangements for the pre-distribution of potassium iodate tablets to residents within the detailed emergency planning zone around nuclear installations, are being reviewed as part of the work undertaken by Department of the Energy and Climate Change on the UK's national nuclear emergency arrangements.
	The distribution of iodate tablets in the vicinity of a licensed nuclear site is a matter for the site operator in liaison with the relevant regulators and health authorities.

Renewable Energy

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he proposes that local authorities will be restricted in how revenue generated through the sale of electricity to the Grid may be spent.

Charles Hendry: How local authorities spend revenue generated through the sale of electricity is determined by existing rules governing local authority expenditure.

Scottish Power: Carbon Sequestration

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects the contract to be signed with the Scottish Power consortium for the first carbon capture and storage demonstration project.

Charles Hendry: The Government announced on 19 October that a decision has been made not to proceed with the proposed CCS demonstration project at Longannet. The Government remain firmly committed to CCS. There are a number of promising CCS projects proposed in England and Scotland and we expect to commence a more streamlined selection process as soon as possible. The £l billion made available for the first project will be set aside for this new process.

Sellafield

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much has been spent on security at Sellafield in (a) 2011-12 to date and (b) each of the last five years.

Charles Hendry: DECC keeps security arrangements under constant review as part of a continuous process to ensure existing arrangements are robust and effective. For reasons of security, we do not comment on the detail of operational security matters at individual civil nuclear sites.

EDUCATION

Academies

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the performance of each academy sponsor; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the performance of each academy sponsor; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Section 11 of the Academies Act 2010 places a duty on the Secretary of State to publish an annual report containing information on academy arrangements entered into during the year, and the performance of academies during the year. We intend to publish the first annual report in spring 2012 and this will set out our assessment of the progress made by academies and free schools.

Academies: Free Schools

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of small schools that will become (a) academies and (b) free schools.

Nick Gibb: We have made no estimate of the number of small schools that will be established as free schools or become academies; this number will depend on the level of demand.

Academies: Kent

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which primary schools he expects to become academies in (a) Kent and (b) Dartford constituency in the 2011-12 academic year.

Nick Gibb: As of 13 October 2011, four primary schools in the Dartford constituency have been issued with an academy order: Wentworth primary school, Joydens Wood infant school, Joydens Wood junior school and Wilmington primary school. Milestone school is an all-through school and has also received an academy order. A further 21 primary schools have been issued with academy orders in Kent, 11 of which have already opened as academies. The issuing of an academy order sets an expectation that the school will convert to academy status; however it does not set a specific date for conversion.
	York Road junior school and language unit in Dartford and Bell Wood primary and Oak Trees community school, elsewhere in Kent, are in the process of becoming sponsored academies in the academic year 2011-12.
	Full details of schools that have formally applied for academy status, as well as a list of academies that have opened in the academic year 2010/11 can be found on the Department for Education Academies website at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies/a0069811/schools-submitting-applications-and-academies-that-have-opened-in-201011

Academies: Nottinghamshire

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what budget his Department has allocated to academy schools in Nottinghamshire for 2011-12.

Nick Gibb: The following table sets out the funding allocated to academies in Nottinghamshire from September 2011 to August 2012. Further funding will be allocated to any new academy opening in this period.
	
		
			 Academy Open date Funding allocated August 2011 to September 2012  (1 )  (£) 
			 Samworth Church Academy 1 September 2008 5,628,048 
			 Barnby Road Primary and Nursery school 1 October 2010 1,266,349 
			 George Spencer Foundation School and Technology College 1 September 2010 7,429,937 
			 Redhill School 1 December 2010 7,506,718 
			 Serlby Academy 1 September 2011 5,108,336 
			 South Nottinghamshire Academy 1 September 2011 3,624,678 
			 Carlton Academy 1 September 2011 4,632,770 
			 Worksop Norbridge Primary 1 September 2011 761,451 
			 W/B St Edmund Campion R.C. Primary 1 September 2011 1,234,738 
			 Wilford Becket RC School 1 September 2011 5,061,560 
			 Arnold Hill School 1 October 2011 7,376,559 
			 Carlton le Willows School and Technology College 1 April 2011 6,571,889 
			 The West Bridgford School 1 April 2011 6,660,512 
			 Toot Hill School 1 July 2011 6,968,123 
			 The Manor School 1 August 2011 6,303,548 
			 The National School, a C of E Technology College 1 August 2011 5,327,420 
			 Tuxford School 1 August 2011 7,043,060 
			 Total  88,505,694 
			 (1) Includes: School Budget Share; Mainstreamed Grants; LACSEG; Rates; Devolved Teacher Threshold; Post-16 Funding

Free Schools: Pensions

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education in respect of how many free schools support staff have access to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Nick Gibb: All free schools are under a statutory duty to ensure that all the non-teaching staff they employ are provided with access to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Free Schools: West London

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will (a) place in the Library and (b) publish the funding agreement for the West London Free School.

Nick Gibb: The funding agreement for West London Free School will be published on the Department's website in due course. We have no plans to place free schools’ or academies’ funding agreements in the Library.

GCSE

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools were below the GCSE floor target in 2011; and what proportion of pupils achieved five GCSEs at A* to C, including English and mathematics in each such school.

Nick Gibb: We do not yet have validated school level data to make an estimate of the number of schools below the key stage 4 floor standard in 2011. We expect this to be available in January 2012.

GCSE: Nottinghamshire

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what average GCSE grade students in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) England received in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: We do not calculate an average GCSE grade, but we do calculate Average Points Scores (APS) based on the qualifications taken by pupils until the end of key stage 4 (this is typically when the pupil is aged 15 at the start of the academic year). For example a GCSE Grade C is worth 40 points. The qualifications included in the APS are GCSEs and other qualifications considered to be equivalent, such as BTECs—the uncapped point score counts points from all such qualifications taken by pupils.
	Information on this basis is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Average GCSE and equivalents point score for pupils at the end of key stage 4 for (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) England. Years: 2006-10  (1,2)   (final) 
			  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 
			 Ashfield(3,4) 305.2 337.9 378.5 406.9 451.6 
			 Nottinghamshire(3,4) 344.4 361.5 387.1 418.4 456.3 
			 England(5) 365.1 378.2 390.2 413.6 439.0 
			 (1 )Figures for 2010 include accredited iGCSEs. (2) Including attempts and achievements by these pupils in previous academic years. (3) Figures for Ashfield and Nottinghamshire do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas. (4) Figures for Ashfield and Nottinghamshire include all maintained schools (including CTCs and academies). (5) England averages also include independent schools as well as hospital schools and PRUs. Source: 2006-10 Secondary School Performance Tables and National Pupil Database

Health Education: Sex

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what guidance his Department issues to schools about the type of (a) material and (b) publications relating to sex and relationships education in school libraries; what recent representations he has received from parents about the type of material placed in school libraries on such matters; and if he will make a statement; [R]
	(2)  whether his Department has funded the Christopher Winter Project in 2011-12; how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each local education authority area use materials produced by the Christopher Winter Project; and if he will make a statement; [R]
	(3)  if he will bring forward proposals to require the head teacher of a (a) primary and (b) secondary school to show parents upon request the material used in their school to teach sex and relationships education; what recent representations he has received on this issue; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Nick Gibb: The Department does not issue guidance on the type of material or publications relating to sex and relationships education being deposited in school libraries. We have not had representations from parents about the type of material being placed in school libraries on any matters.
	The Department's existing guidance on “Sex and Relationship Education” states that materials used in schools must be in accordance with the law. Schools should ensure that pupils are protected from materials which are inappropriate, having regard to the age and cultural background of the pupils concerned.
	The Department for Education has not provided any funding to the Christopher Winter Project. We understand that the programme is being used in a number of schools but the Department does not hold information about which schools are doing so.
	We are currently reviewing personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education which includes sex and relationships education (SRE). While we do not propose to change legislation in respect of sex education as a result of the review, we will be looking at simplifying the current departmental guidance on SRE. We have received representations, in the form of correspondence sent to the Department, that some parents have concerns about materials used in primary schools. The current guidance, to which all schools providing SRE must have regard, emphasises the need for schools to work with parents when developing their programmes.
	Ultimately it is for schools to decide on what is taught and how it is taught. They should ensure that pupils are protected from teaching and materials which are inappropriate, having regard to the age, maturity and cultural background of the pupils concerned.

Health Education: Sex

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the effect of sex and relationships education on pupils aged seven to 11 years of age; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Nick Gibb: Ofsted produced a report on the teaching of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, which includes sex and relationships education, in July 2010. They found that sex and relationships education was taught less well than other elements of PSHE in both primary and secondary schools. Inspectors said
	‘The picture in the primary schools visited was variable in terms of pupils' age-appropriate understanding of sex and relationships education’.
	The Department is reviewing PSHE, and will be looking at its current guidance on sex and relationships education as part of the review.

Health Education: Sex

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what evidence his Department has gathered on the effects of sex and relationships education in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools on the number of teenage pregnancies; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Sarah Teather: The under 18 conception rate in England is declining and is at the lowest level for nearly 30 years. It is not possible to identify a causal link between sex and relationships education in primary or secondary schools and England's reduction in teenage pregnancies. However, international evidence and lessons from local areas where teenage pregnancy rates have fallen fastest, indicate that in order to avoid teenage pregnancies, young people need:
	a comprehensive programme of SRE, which: promotes the benefits of delaying first sex; provides young people with the knowledge and skills to resist pressure from peers and the media; and informs them about contraception, so that they can avoid unplanned pregnancies and STIs when they do become sexually active; combined with
	access to young people-centred contraceptive and sexual health (CASH) services, in locations and at times that fit with young people's lives; and which offer the full range of contraceptive options, including long-acting contraceptive methods.
	We still have high teenage pregnancy rates compared with many other western European countries. Local areas should maintain their efforts to reduce teenage pregnancy rates further as part of their ambition to tackle child poverty and health inequalities, and to learn from those areas which have achieved significant reductions. We will be saying more about this in the forthcoming Positive for Youth Policy Document and the Sexual Health Policy Document.

Postgraduate Education: Finance

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the (a) minimum and (b) maximum bursary is for PGCE students starting in (i) September 2011, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2013, (iv) 2014 and (v) 2015; and what criteria are applied to the awarding of such bursaries.

Nick Gibb: Details of the training bursary arrangements for PGCE trainees starting courses in September 2011 were announced by the Department on 31 January 2011 and set out in a letter from the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), to the Chief Executive of the Training and Development Agency for Schools on the same date. The letter confirmed that in 2011/12 £9,000 bursaries are available for PGCE trainees in mathematics, physics, chemistry and engineering while those on biology, combined/general science and modern foreign languages courses can receive £6,000 bursaries. All PGCE students can apply for the same student support as undergraduate students, including maintenance loans and means-tested grants.
	The cost of providing bursaries for postgraduate trainees that started courses in September 2010 is £151.3 million. The cost of providing bursaries for postgraduate trainees that started courses in September 2011 is £59.5 million.
	Our discussion document “Training our next generation of outstanding teachers” sets out proposals for reforming initial teacher training, including providing bursaries designed to make training to teach more attractive to the most talented graduates, especially in shortage subjects, from 2012/13. The proposals set out a bursary rate of between £4,000 and £20,000 depending on the degree classification of the trainee and the subject specialism or phase of the postgraduate course. We expect to announce the final arrangements for 2012/13 shortly. The bursaries will continue to be adjusted regularly according to the size of the pool of potential teachers and the demand from schools for new teachers.

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average budget per student is in maintained schools in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) England.

Nick Gibb: Figures are not available for the parliamentary constituency of Ashfield as data are collected at a local authority level. The available information on the average budget per student in maintained schools in Nottinghamshire local authority and England is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Average budget share per pupil by phase of education for 2011-12 
			 £ 
			  Nottinghamshire England 
			 Nursery 4,920 7,541 
			 Primary 3,686 4,024 
			 Secondary 4,768 5,090 
			 Special 19,837 18,026 
			 Total 4,289 4,667

Schools: Armed Forces

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to ensure that military families are not disadvantaged by the schools admission code.

Nick Gibb: We are determined that those who serve in the armed forces, and their families, should not be disadvantaged when they seek to secure a school place for their children. That is why we consulted upon reforms to the admissions code that would allow admission authorities to include the children of service families as an exception to the infant class size regulations. We have also changed the code to require local authorities and admission authorities to treat a service family as resident in their area as soon as proof of posting has been provided. In addition, we intend to remove the requirement that local authorities manage the processing of in-year applications, which would capture many service families. Instead, these families will be supported through information and paperwork by the local authority to enable them to apply directly to the schools in their area. This should mean a faster outcome for those parents in finding a place for their child than at present.
	Subject to the parliamentary process, we expect the new admissions and appeals codes to come into force in February 2012 and to take full effect on applications for the September 2013 intake onwards.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many meetings he has had with representatives of (a) social enterprises, (b) charities, (c) large private sector businesses and (d) small and medium-sized private sector businesses since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Nicholas Clegg: I have had many meetings with a range of organisations in the last 17 months. Details of my meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis with those for June 2011 to be published shortly.

Electoral Registration

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the potential for co-operation between the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the Identity and Passport Service, Royal Mail and electoral registration officers on steps to increase the level of electoral registration; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Harper: The Government are assessing a range of measures they believe have potential to support the introduction of individual electoral registration and improve the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register.
	The Government are currently running 22 data matching schemes. These schemes enable the participating local authorities to test the usefulness of certain public authority databases, including those of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and Royal Mail, in improving the accuracy and completeness of the electoral register.
	With the schemes still in progress and the outcomes of the Electoral Commission, Cabinet Office and local authority evaluations still some time away, it is too early to draw any conclusions about the potential usefulness to electoral registration officers of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and Royal Mail databases. Support from the Identity and Passport Service in the introduction of individual electoral registration is also being considered as part of the Cabinet Office's preparations.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Bankruptcy

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) bankruptcy orders and (b) winding-up orders were made in each individual court in the five years up to 31 March 2011.

Edward Davey: The table, which will be placed in the Libraries of the House, provides a breakdown of the bankruptcy and winding up orders made in each individual court covering the period July 2008 until March 2011. Due to changes in the Insolvency Services IT systems no data (split by the court in which the order was made) prior to this date are available.

Bankruptcy

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many bankruptcy restriction orders and undertakings were obtained in each of the last five financial years; and how many of them in each such year were obtained for (a) less than five years, (b) five to nine years and (c) over nine years.

Edward Davey: The Insolvency Service does not record the data requested broken down according to the periods specified. However, the data is recorded broken down according to similar periods and is provided in the following table.
	
		
			 Bankruptcy restrictions by period 
			  2006-  0  7 2007-  0  8 2008-  0  9 2009-10 2010-11 
			 1-5 years 1,384 1,440 1,287 1,407 1,296 
			 6-10 years 459 367 449 501 449 
			 11-15 years 24 20 45 40 51 
			 Total 1,867 1,827 1,781 1,948 1,796

Business

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to promote the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Mark Prisk: We are promoting growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in a number of ways:
	Removing barriers to growth
	We have introduced an extensive public thematic review of the existing stock of regulation through the Red Tape Challenge website, providing businesses with the opportunity to tell Government which regulations are working and which are not. From 3 to 19 October the spotlight is on employment-related law. Retail was the first theme to go live in early April, resulting in the removal or simplification of over half the 257 retail regulations.
	We have introduced a moratorium exempting micro (fewer than 10 employees) and start-up businesses from new domestic regulation for three years from 1 April 2011.
	From 2012, the qualifying period for unfair dismissals will be extended from 12 months to two years.
	Providing people with the advice and guidance they need to grow their business
	We are transforming the way that we enable people to receive the information, advice and guidance they need to start and grow their business.
	Our new approach to Government services and advice for business is based on:
	digital services which provide the best advice available and accessible when businesses need them; and
	advice provided by business people for business people, not by the public sector.
	We have been working with the British Bankers Association (BBA) to launch:
	www.mentorsme.co.uk
	which provides a single, easy to use search engine to find organisations offering mentoring services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). And we are supporting a massive expansion of the number of mentors available to SMEs.
	In addition we are:
	revamping the Business Link website:
	www.businesslink.gov.uk
	setting up a dedicated "My New Business" area on the website to provide training and information for those looking to start a business—with the best video and interactive advice produced by experts and available 24/7; and
	setting up a new Business Coaching for Growth (BCG) programme to enable small businesses with high growth potential to realise their potential.
	Finding new markets
	Export markets are vital to growth. Under this Government, UKTI has introduced a comprehensive offer for SMEs to help them export. This includes:
	Passport to Export—is a trade development programme offering new and inexperienced exporters help and support to build the capability to start exporting proactively and make their first visit to an export market. Launched in 2001, it is delivered by International Trade Advisers (ITAs) in England and has helped around 14,000 SMEs.
	Gateway to Global Growth—offers experienced SME exporters the opportunity to increase their exporting skills and awareness of what is on offer from UKTI and private sector suppliers. The aim is to help them enter more difficult markets or expand in existing ones. The approach is similar to Passport, but aimed at innovative SME exporters with two to 10 years' export experience, ready to widen and diversify their overseas business. It was launched in 2009 and nearly 3,000 companies had been signed on to the programme.
	The Overseas Market Introduction Service—provides assistance for businesses of all sizes from posts overseas and is chargeable but at a subsidised rate. This is available to all sizes of companies but approximately 85% of users are SMEs.
	Market Visit Support—provides assistance to new to export and/or new to market SMEs visiting overseas markets, individually or in groups as part of their trade development process.
	The Export Marketing Research Scheme—run for UKTI by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), provides free advice for SMEs on marketing research and a limited amount of grant is available for approved marketing research projects for SMEs and trade associations.
	The Export Communications Review—also run for us by the BCC, provides SMEs with impartial and objective advice on language and cultural issues to help them improve their competitiveness in export markets.
	Finance for g rowth
	Ensuring the flow of credit to viable SMEs is essential for supporting growth and is a core priority for this Government. The Government are providing a comprehensive package of support for small businesses, including:
	Continuation of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme until 2014-15, providing up to £600 million of additional lending to around 6,000 viable SMEs in 2011 and, subject to demand, over £2 billion in total over the next four years.
	Trade finance:
	A new Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme, providing up to £1 million of lending to support viable SME exporters who are unable to access a commercial loan. A six-month pilot scheme commenced in April 2011.
	A bond support scheme available from participating banks, freeing up additional working capital.
	A widening of the eligibility of the existing short-term credit insurance policy, the Export Insurance Policy, by the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD).
	An export working capital scheme, facilitating exporting firms' access to pre and post-shipment working capital finance for specific export contracts.
	A foreign exchange credit support product, to share risk with banks on their credit exposure arising from the foreign exchange hedging contracts provided to SME exporters, where there is some other form of ECGD support.
	Continuation of the Government's Enterprise Capital Funds programme, increasing our commitment by £200 million over the next four years, providing for more than £300 million of venture capital investment to address the equity gap for early stage innovative SMEs with the highest growth potential.
	Encouraging Business Angel investment by reviewing the regulatory framework affecting angels and through the establishment of a new £50 million Business Angel Co-Investment Fund.
	A £1.4 billion Regional Growth Fund operating across England from 2011 to 2014 to support projects and programmes that lever private sector investment creating economic growth and sustainable employment. It aims particularly to help those areas and communities currently dependent on the public sector to make the transition to sustainable private sector-led growth and prosperity.

Business: Females

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what support his Department provides specifically for women in business;
	(2)  what support his Department provides to women's business centres.

Mark Prisk: In the coalition agreement the Government made clear that they believe business is the driver of economic growth and innovation. This includes the need to take action to boost enterprise, including women's entrepreneurship.
	The Government are committed to broadening the range of activities intended to promote enterprise and to ensuring that the needs of potential and actual women entrepreneurs are fully integrated into these activities. For example:
	Challenging aspirations and capability—particularly seeking to embed enterprise awareness at an early age, as there is evidence that differences in enterprise aspiration between the genders start to open up early in secondary education. We will therefore support every school to give pupils meaningful enterprise experience by helping them develop and run their own business and we will ensure that every school and college has access to positive local role models and enterprise champions—including female entrepreneurs.
	A new approach to Business Improvement—as part of our work to transform the way that we enable people to receive the information and advice they need to start and grow their business (including the updating of www.businesslink.gov.uk, and establishing a new national helpline, a comprehensive start-up service and a new Business Coaching for Growth service), we have paid particular attention to ensuring the services are accessible to women and are designed and presented in the right way for a female audience.
	Improving the business environment and access to finance—the Government are taking a number of steps which will benefit women-led businesses as well as other businesses, including: delivering long-term certainty and stability in the tax system; reducing regulatory burdens; encouraging a world-class skills base; ensuring the financial sector can supply affordable credit to viable businesses; and encouraging more diverse sources of finance for SMEs, including where appropriate, access to equity finance.
	This Department does not provide any financial assistance for women's business centres.
	The Government want to engage with small businesses and entrepreneurs to help make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business, and make the next decade the most entrepreneurial and dynamic in Britain's history. The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), has therefore created the Entrepreneurs' Forum, to provide him with an informal and personal source of advice on business and enterprise policies. There are 17 entrepreneurs on the forum, the majority of whom are women.

Copyright

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects his proposed copyright small claims jurisdiction to be in place.

Edward Davey: The Government are examining the business case for the introduction of a small claims track in the patents county court. We intend to report on progress this autumn. Subject to an appropriate business case being established, the Government would look to implement the change as soon as possible thereafter, hopefully in 2012.

Credit

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential effects of the March 2010 guidance from the Office of Fair Trading on irresponsible lending on lender practice in the (a) mainstream personal credit and (b) sub-prime personal credit market.

Edward Davey: The Irresponsible Lending Guidance is helping to raise standards in both the main stream and sub-prime sectors. For example, trade associations in both sectors have required their members to adopt practices and procedures that are compliant with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) guidance. However, OFT intelligence suggests that lenders in both sectors need to do more to fully meet the standards set out in the guidance—and where there is clear evidence that they don’t meet these standards and consumers may be adversely affected, the OFT does, and will continue to, take action against the businesses concerned. In line with a commitment given at the time that it published the Irresponsible Lending Guidance, the OFT expects to commence a review of business compliance with the guidance shortly.

Departmental Allowances

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much members of his departmental management board have claimed in expenses since May 2010.

Edward Davey: The Department publishes expenses claimed by all board members, in relation to their work for the departmental board as well as more generally, on its website. Quarterly updates covering the period from May 2010 to March 2011 are available at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/transparency/staff
	Subsequent updates will be published in due course.

Departmental Manpower

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many civil servants work in his Department; and how many worked in his Department in (a) 2000, (b) 2005, (c) 2007 and (d) 2010.

Edward Davey: In June 2009 the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) was merged with The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) to create The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Therefore we only have access to data from this date.
	Our latest return to the Office for National Statistics shows that as at the end of September 2011 we employed 2,958 staff. In March 2010 we employed 3,728 staff. Please note these figures include UKTI and are based on staff on payroll.

Electricity Generation: Nigeria

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to promote business links with the power supply sector in Nigeria.

Mark Prisk: UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) provides expert advice and practical support to UK companies, including those in the power sector, looking to export to Nigeria. In October 2010 UKTI Nigeria accompanied a delegation of UK power companies to the President of Nigeria’s 'Presidential Retreat for Power Sector Investors’ in Abuja at which it was discussed how all present could help improve the availability of power in the country.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much was owed by developing countries to the Export Credits Guarantee Department in the latest period for which figures are available; what proportion that figure represents of all developing country debts owed to the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: holding answer 21 October 2011
	Sovereign debt owed to the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) by developing countries, as of 30 September 2011, was £2.4 billion. This represents 90% of all debts owed to the UK through ECGD, the Department for International Development and CDC Group plc.
	‘Developing countries’ has been defined as low and middle-income countries, as based on the World Bank’s latest (2011) classification of gross national income per capita.

Green Investment Bank: Location

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  when he expects to make the final decision on the location for the Green Investment Bank;
	(2)  whether his Department has made any changes to the criteria for determining the location of the Green Investment Bank since May 2011;
	(3)  whether further cities have applied to be the location of the Green Investment Bank.

Mark Prisk: 16 cities and towns have indicated that they would like to be considered as the location for the Green Investment Bank. I will set out further details of the criteria and process for determining the location of the Green Investment Bank before Christmas, with a view to a final decision in 2012.

Hawk Aircraft

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department offered support to BAE Systems to ensure that the Hawk trainer aircraft would be built in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 20 October 2011
	The Government consider that the most effective support they can provide in relation to the Hawk is by promoting exports of the aircraft from the UK. The Government are actively engaged in promoting exports of the Hawk, and in particular the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) Defence and Security Organisation is supporting BAE Systems export campaigns in a number of overseas markets. Export customers for high value defence equipment frequently seek a level of local production and technology transfer, but export orders still deliver significant benefit and value for the many UK companies in the supply chain. The Government have not provided support directly towards production of the aircraft in the UK.

Higher Education Funding Council

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding the Higher Education Funding Council has allocated for (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11, (d) 2011-12, (e) 2012-13, (f) 2013-14 and (g) 2014-15 for capital investment at (i) Oxford University, (ii) Cambridge University, (iii) Imperial College, London, (iv) University College, London and (v) the University of Manchester; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The information requested is in a table produced by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. I will place a copy of it in the Libraries of the House. The only figures allocated are up to 2011/12. All figures beyond that date are indicative as no allocations have yet been made.

Higher Education Funding Council

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding the Higher Education Funding Council allocated for (a) widening participation in higher education, (b) the costs of being based in London, (c) the teaching of foreign languages and (d) capital investment; how much it plans to allocate for each purpose in each of the next three years in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The only figures allocated are up to 2011/12. The Government have yet to make allocations for future years.
	(i) Widening Participation
	The final recurrent grant figures for Widening Participation and improving retention are shown in table 1.
	
		
			 Table 1 
			 £ 
			  Widening access Improving retention Total 
			 2010-11 141,895,449 226,699,474 368,594,923 
			 2011-12 141,630,239 226,514,863 368,145,102 
		
	
	(ii) London weighting
	It is not possible to identify precisely how much grant is attributable to London weighting, because it is just one weighting factor in more complex formulae covering three other elements of recurrent grant: mainstream teaching grant; Widening Participation, and Teaching Enhancement and Student Success, and Quality Research funding. Estimates are provided in table 2.
	
		
			 Table 2: Estimated London weighting within recurrent grant 
			 £ million 
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 Mainstream teaching grant 72.7 68.4 
			 WP and improving retention 3.7 3.9 
			 Research 44.5 44.4 
			 Total 120.9 116.7 
		
	
	(iii) Foreign languages
	The data requested on the spend on Modern foreign languages are not currently available. Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) provides institutions with a block grant to cover teaching costs and institutions have considerable flexibility to deploy this in line with their institutions needs. Precisely how they have done this for the years in question will be known following the publication of the final individualised student data from HESA for 2010-11 around December 2011.
	(iv) Capital investment
	The information provided by HEFCE on capital will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Higher Education: Admissions

Margot James: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of pupils attending (a) state funded schools, (b) grammar schools, (c) non-selective state funded schools and (d) independent schools who achieved AAB or above at A-level received an offer to attend (i) a higher education institution, (ii) a Russell Group university and (iii) Oxford or Cambridge University in the latest period for which figures are available.

David Willetts: The information is in the following table and has been provided by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).
	
		
			 Table: Number and proportion of UCAS applicants with A levels of AAB or better that received offers by centre type and institution 
			  (a) State excluding Grammar (b) Grammar (d) Independent School 
			 Institution type Applicants Received   o  ffers % Applicants Received   o  ffers % Applicants Received   o  ffers % 
			 (i) HEIs 21,292 20,751 97.5 12,519 12,192 97.4 16,759 16,111 96.1 
			 (ii) Russell Group 19,510 17,259 88.5 11,934 10,813 90.6 16,336 14,613 89.5 
			 (iii) Oxford or Cambridge university 5,293 1,394 26.3 3,514 1,119 31.8 6,496 2,115 32.6 
		
	
	The question asks for those with “AAB or above at A level” to be identified (therefore the wider specification of grades and qualifications proposed in the Higher Education Funding Council for England ‘Consultation on funding for teaching and student number allocation in 2012-13' Annex C: AAB equivalences has not been used). Only the three highest grades have been considered in this analysis. The dominator for the calculation of the percentage is the number of applicants that made at least one choice to the type of institution.
	The data covers UK domiciled applicants in the UCAS main scheme, Higher Education Institutions with UCAS membership and A levels reported through the 2010 Awarding Body Linkage (ABL arrangements only cover qualifications taken in the last 18 months). The school type reflects the centre through which the application was submitted and uses UCAS' standard centre groupings. UCAS is not able to report on non-selective state funded schools as these are not identified in their data.
	The AAB and better group will contain applicants with a range of attainment from AAB to A*A*A*A* for example. The mix of applicant attainment within the AAB or better group may vary across centre type and this is likely to account for some of the differences in the offer rate seen, for example for those that achieved exactly AAB, the variation in offer rate from Oxford or Cambridge universities is reduced to within 0.6% across centre types.
	For a majority of these applicants, offers are made prior to A level attainment being known. Predicted grades have not been considered in this analysis. An institution's decision to make an offer is likely to depend on subjects in addition to the potential grade profile. This data reports those who have achieved particular A level grade profiles without any filtering of the range of subjects. The mix of subjects offered may be associated with school type.

Higher Education: Charities

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what research his Department has (a) evaluated and (b) commissioned on for-profit higher education providers; and if he will publish all such research.

David Willetts: There exists extensive research on the benefits of greater competition and choice. It is on such foundations that my Department's higher education White Paper “Higher Education: Students at the Heart of the System” is based. During the White Paper consultation phase, which ran from June to September of this year, we welcomed evidence from stakeholders to help quantify the possible impact of the policy proposals made. We are currently considering the responses received and will be issuing a formal response in due course. This will also include our response to the accompanying technical consultation “A New, Fit-for-Purpose Regulatory Framework for the Higher Education Sector” which is open until 27 October. Both documents are available at:
	www.bis.gov.uk/hereform

Higher Education: Private Sector

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what consideration he has given to providing private equity companies with degree-awarding powers.

David Willetts: Any organisation providing higher education is entitled to apply for degree awarding powers. The granting of these powers is subject to meeting specific criteria designed to establish that the applicant is a well-founded, cohesive and self-critical academic community that can demonstrate firm guardianship of its standards. As part of our proposed reforms to higher education we are currently consulting on a range of measures to encourage a greater diversity of higher education provision which is responsive to the needs of students.

Higher Education: Private Sector

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what meetings (a) he, (b) the Minister for Universities and Science and (c) officials in his Department have had with private equity firms to discuss higher education.

David Willetts: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable) and I meet regularly with organisations that have an interest in higher education. A quarterly-updated list of all BIS ministerial meetings with external organisations is available at:
	http://data.gov.uk/dataset/disclosure-ministerial-hospitality-received-department-for-business
	BIS officials will also have had meetings with a range of organisations with an interest in higher education. A comprehensive record of these is not maintained.

Higher Education: Private Sector

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what criteria were used to determine which organisations to invite to the December 2010 and January 2011 meetings between the Minister for Universities and Science and private higher education providers.

David Willetts: I held two meetings with a range of private higher education providers in December 2010 and January 2011 to discuss how more private investment in, and provision of, higher education could be encouraged. Invitations were extended to those organisations that we felt had knowledge and expertise to share on this agenda.

Insolvency

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will bring forward proposals to increase the proportion of businesses which are at risk of going into administration which remain trading as a going concern.

Edward Davey: The Government are committed to strengthening the framework for company rescue wherever this is possible.
	In this regard, the Government are aware of the problems that can be caused for those seeking to rescue a struggling company by so-called ‘termination clauses’, and are currently considering this issue and the implications for all companies of any change to the existing law.

Insolvency

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many disqualification orders and undertakings were obtained in compulsory liquidations for each of the last five financial years; and in each such year how many were obtained for (a) less than five years, (b) five to nine years and (c) over nine years.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 21 October 2011
	The Insolvency Service does not record the data broken down according to the requested periods but has recorded total figures for the last four years which are provided in the following table:
	
		
			  2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 OR (Comp) disqualifications — 507 528 540 579 
			 Total disqualifications 1,200 1,145 1,252 1,388 1,437

Insolvency

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many disqualification orders and undertakings were obtained in each of the last five financial years; and in each such year how many were obtained for (a) less than five years, (b) five to nine years and (c) over nine years.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 21 October 2011
	The Insolvency Service does not record the data requested broken down according to the periods specified. However, the data are recorded broken down according to similar periods and are provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Disqualifications by period 
			  2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 One to five years 710 603 614 668 738 
			 Six to 10 years 400 402 478 540 549 
			 11 to 15 years 90 140 160 180 150 
			 Total 1,200 1,145 1,252 1,388 1,437

Insolvency

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will place in the Library a copy of each document issued to Insolvency Service staff in relation to the proposed Insolvency Service delivery strategy.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 21 October 2011
	The full staff consultation document on the delivery strategy can be found on the Insolvency Service website at:
	www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/About-us/Strategy-and-Planning

Insolvency

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the effect of staffing of the Insolvency Service delivery strategy on the staffing complement of the Insolvency Service in each region of England and Wales.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 21 October 2011
	A key purpose of the delivery strategy is to enable the Insolvency Service to react more flexibly to fluctuations in demand for its services in the future. It does not seek to change the level of staff employed, therefore no such assessment has been made.

Insolvency

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the Insolvency Service Delivery Strategy on the Insolvency Service’s ability to investigate misconduct in bankruptcies and compulsory liquidations; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 21 October 2011
	The Delivery Strategy does not propose any changes that will impact on the ability of the Insolvency Service to investigate misconduct in bankruptcies and compulsory liquidations.

Kaplan UK: Higher Education

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what representations he has received from (a) Kaplan Inc., (b) Kaplan Europe and (c) Kaplan UK on the expansion of alternative providers in higher education;
	(2)  what meetings the Minister for Universities and Science has had with representatives of (a) Kaplan Inc., (b) Kaplan Europe and (c) Kaplan UK since his appointment.

David Willetts: I met with representatives of Kaplan UK on 8 September 2011. I met with representatives of Kaplan UK and Kaplan Inc. on 20 September 2011. I attended an event where a representative of Kaplan Europe was present on 3 May 2011. I attended an event where a representative of Kaplan UK was present on 17 May 2011. I have also received a number of written representations from Kaplan UK and Kaplan Europe regarding the role of alternative providers in UK higher education.

Ministerial Policy Advisers

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what arrangements govern the payment of expenses to members of expert and advisor groups to enable them to attend meetings at his Department.

Edward Davey: The arrangements for the payment of expenses to members of expert and advisor groups attending meetings at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) are governed by the principles laid out in the Civil Service Code, the Ministerial Code and the BIS departmental travel policy.
	Only travel and expenses costs that are necessary and additional to normal expenditure can be reimbursed. Expenditure should be both reasonable and within the guideline amounts set out within the BIS travel policy. All claims for reimbursement must be approved by an appropriate and authorised budget holder within BIS before any payment can be made.
	All travel should be both proportionate and appropriate to the need and should demonstrate best value for money to the Department. Travellers should choose the most appropriate method of travel and make the best overall use of official time, fares and subsistence.
	Within BIS, Ministers, the permanent secretary and top management team are expected to follow the guidance given in the Ministerial Code, for example by using public transport at standard class and this is extended to officials, those appointed to office, and those whose fares will be reimbursed from the public purse.

National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what evaluation he has conducted of the work of the National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research.

David Willetts: The National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) is funded by BIS via the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
	BIS asked the Medical Research Council (MRC) to lead a five-year (quinquennial) review of the NC3Rs which was undertaken in 2009. The aims of the review were to advise BIS, MRC and BBSRC on the continued importance of the NC3Rs; to examine the importance and quality of the work being carried out by the centre, including the research it funds; to examine the relevance and quality of the outputs and their translation; to advise on plans for the future including the level of resources necessary and the governance arrangements.

Public Houses: Rents

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will consider introducing a requirement for tenants to be provided with a breakdown of how their rent has been calculated in his code of practice for pub companies.

Edward Davey: The Government do not have a code of practice for pub companies. The Government are currently considering the recommendations made in the BIS committee’s most recent “Pub Companies” report and will be responding in due course.

Royal Mail: Billing

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what representations he has received on proposals by Royal Mail to increase the period for paying invoices to suppliers from 45 to 60 days;
	(2)  what recent discussions he has had with Royal Mail on changes to their invoice payment system for suppliers.

Edward Davey: The Department has not received any representations or had any discussions with Royal Mail regarding their invoice payment practices.

Students: Loans

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what representations he has received from Muslim groups on the interest charged on student loans.

David Willetts: The Government have received representations from student representative bodies regarding this issue, including the National Union of Students and Federation of Student Islamic Societies.

Trade Union Officials

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will estimate the contributions trade union representatives make to (a) the economy and (b) productivity in (i) public and (ii) private sector workplaces; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), fully recognises the contribution that trade union representatives can make in the workplace but it would be impossible to make any sensible estimate given the number of variables involved. The number and role of trade union representatives in a workplace will be determined between the union and employer.

Trade Union Officials

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the proportion of the national employed workforce that work as (a) full-time or (b) part-time trade union representatives; and if he will bring forward proposals to increase that proportion.

Edward Davey: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable) has made no such estimate and has no plans to bring forward proposals to increase union representation.
	The number of trade union representatives in a workplace and whether they are full or part-time will be determined between the union and employer. The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 provides that reasonable time off be allowed for union duties and activities—and the ACAS code of practice provides practical guidance. This allows tailoring to the specific needs of the workplace.

UK Trade and Investment: Government Procurement Card

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the (a) date of purchase, (b) amount, (c) supplier and (d) level 3 or enhanced transaction entry was of each transaction undertaken by UK Trade and Investment using the Government Procurement Card in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10.

Mark Prisk: For the financial year 2011-12 and onwards, it is Government policy for all Departments to publish their GPC transactions over £500 on the Data.gov website. UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) data for the first quarter covering April to June 2011 can be found at:
	www.data.gov.uk
	UKTI does not hold the information at the detailed level requested for the period 2007-08 to 2009-10. To obtain this would involve commissioning a bespoke report, which could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

Utilities: Billing

John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he plans to take in respect of energy, utility and communication companies who do not state on their bills (a) that customers can pay by posted cheque, (b) to whom the cheque should be made and (c) the address to which the cheque should be sent.

Edward Davey: holding answer 17 October 2011
	There are no plans to require companies to state on their bills that customers can pay by cheque. The information printed on customer's bills about methods of payment is a commercial matter for the companies concerned. Energy suppliers, along with utilities and communications companies offer a range of payment options. Some suppliers have licence conditions that set out ways under which they accept payment including in some cases cash and prepayment methods.

WORK AND PENSIONS

State Pension

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress he has made on the introduction of a single-tier state pension.

Steve Webb: In July this year we published the response to our April Green Paper. Three quarters of organisations who responded supported the single tier pension.
	We are continuing to work closely with Treasury on state pension reform and will update the house as soon as we are in a position to do so.

Access to Work Programme

Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how much CDG will be paid for keeping one individual in employment for 26 out of the 104 weeks while they are participating in the Work programme;
	(2)  how much Seetec will be paid for keeping one individual in employment for 26 out of the 104 weeks they are participating in the Work programme;
	(3)  how much A4e will be paid for keeping one individual in employment for 26 out of the 104 weeks they are participating in the Work programme.

Chris Grayling: Work programme providers will be paid primarily for the results they achieve in supporting people into sustained employment.
	Three main types of payment are available to providers:
	a small attachment fee is paid early in the contracts for each person referred to the Work programme. This will reduce in the second and third years of the contracts and will no longer be payable at all in years four and five;
	job outcome fees are paid once per participant after participants have been in employment for 13 or 26 weeks, depending on their participant group;
	sustainment fees represent the bulk of available payments to providers. They are payable for each four-week period in employment after a job outcome is claimed, up to the maximums specified in the Work programme Invitation to Tender(1). They are designed to encourage providers both to find jobs that are appropriate for their claimants in the long-term and to continue to support them in work.
	The maximum possible level and timing of each of these payments for the different participant groups on the Work programme are set out in the Work programme Invitation to Tender(1) (see page 10).
	As part of the procurement process, providers were asked to offer discounts on the maximum possible level of the job outcome payments in their bids (see paragraph 3.08 of the Invitation to Tender(1) for details).
	(1) Work programme Invitation to Tender:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-prog-itt.pdf

Access to Work Programme: North Lanarkshire

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many people have been successfully placed in jobs by Work programme contractors in Motherwell and Wishaw constituency in each of the last three months;
	(2)  how many people claiming employment and support allowance have been referred into the Work programme in Motherwell and Wishaw constituency in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: The Work programme was launched in June 2011, to deliver sustained employment that can change people’s lives; providers have longer than ever before to make a difference.
	The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.
	Statistics on referrals and attachments to the Work programme will be published from spring 2012 and job outcome data will be published from autumn 2012. The Department’s publication strategy for Work programme statistics was placed in the House of Commons Library and is also available at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=wp

Access to Work Programme: Sign Language

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what forms of sign language interpretation are available for sign language users through the Access to Work programme.

Maria Miller: Access to Work has provided assistance for a number of physical interpretation solutions including; British Sign Language, Sign Assisted Speech, Note takers, Palantypists, Lip Readers, Palm Speakers, Deaf Relay Interpreters and Sign Supported English. There are also a variety of technical interpretation options including; Remote Interpreting, Minicom, Texbox, Video Phones, Sign Video, Typetalk, Electronic Note taking and Remote Captioning.

Access to Work Programme: Sign Language

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many interpreters who use a sign language other than British Sign Language are employed as part of the Access to Work scheme.

Maria Miller: The information requested is not routinely collected and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Access to Work Programme: Sign Language

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many sign language users requested interpreting services in a sign language other than British Sign Language through the Access to Work scheme in the last year.

Maria Miller: The information requested is not routinely collected and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Children: Day Care

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his most recent assessment is of the potential effects of the universal credit on child care costs.

Chris Grayling: No estimate has been made of the impact of universal credit on the cost of child care.
	We are investing more than the current spend on child are. Extending support to parents working fewer than 16 hours will allow around 80,000 families who are currently not eligible to receive help with child care costs, increasing their financial incentives to take work.
	Families will be able to recover 70% of monthly child care costs up to £760 for one child or £1,300 for two or more children. This is equivalent to the current arrangements in tax credits of £175 for one child and £300 for two or more children per week.

Children: Maintenance

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many mothers in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) England receive financial assistance from the Child Support Agency.

Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	Letter from Noel Shanahan
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many mothers in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) England receive financial assistance from the Child Support Agency.
	The Commission does not provide financial assistance directly. However the Child Support Agency (CSA) operates the two existing statutory child maintenance schemes. If a parent opens a case the CSA will work out how much child maintenance should be paid and can also collect and pass on child maintenance payments.
	In the quarter to June 2011 there were 1,600 cases with a female parent with care benefiting from maintenance in Ashfield Constituency, 9,400 in Nottinghamshire and 544,300 in England.
	Cases benefiting from maintenance are referred to as cases with a positive maintenance outcome. In addition the table below provides the number of cases, with a female parent with care in the specified areas, where maintenance was due and the number and percentage of these cases with a positive maintenance outcome in the three months to June 2011.
	
		
			 Cases benefiting from maintenance  ,   June 2011 
			  Maintenance due Positive outcome Percentage with positive outcome (%) 
			 Ashfield constituency 2,000 1,600 78.5 
			 Nottinghamshire 12,100 9,400 77.7 
		
	
	
		
			 England 701,300 544,300 77.6 
			 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. 2. Areas are provided by matching the residential postcode of the parent with care to the Office for National Statistics Postcode Directory. 3. Cases are classed as having maintenance due if an ongoing liability to pay maintenance exists or arrears of maintenance have been requested. This group of cases consists of assessed not charging, compliant, nil compliant, maintenance direct and others with receipts. 4. Cases are counted as having a positive maintenance outcome if they have received a payment via the collection service in the quarter or have a maintenance direct agreement in place. Cases are classed as maintenance direct if this is their status at the end of the quarter. 
		
	
	I hope you find this answer helpful.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many contracts his Department has awarded directly to third sector organisations in each month since May 2010; what the value was of such contracts; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The numbers and values of contracts awarded to third sector organisations since May 2010 are detailed in the following table:
	
		
			  Contracts awarded Total value (£) 
			 May 2010 3 569,421 
			 June 2010 1 25,000 
			 July 2010 0 0 
			 August 2010 2 229,185 
			 September 2010 4 2,031,629 
			 October( )2010(1) 25 265,677,775 
			 November 2010 1 69,090 
			 December 2010 0 0 
			 January 2011 3 1,116,590 
			 February 2011 0 0 
			 March 2011 0 0 
			 April 2011 6 226,325 
			 May 2011 0 0 
			 June 2011 2 96,920,210 
			 July 2011 0 0 
			 August 2011 0 0 
			 September 2011 0 0 
			 Total 47 366,865,225 
			 (1) Including 20 Workchoice contracts. Notes: 1. DWP does not have complete coverage of the third sector status of every supplier who has been awarded a contract in this period. 2. We have 15 other contracts in the period where the supplier's third sector status is unknown. 3. DWP awarded 1,129 contracts in total in this period (of which, CIT low level contracts total 598). Third sector suppliers represent 4.1% of the overall total. 4. The data includes DWP and its NDPB's. 5. The data is extracted from the BMO Contracts database using the contract start date as the filter. 6. Some contracts have a nil value because there is no firm contractual commitment to spend. 7. The period covered by this response is 1 May 2010 to 30 September 2011.   The accompanying appendix will be placed in the Library of the House.

Departmental Travel

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has spent on first-class travel by (a) air, (b) boat and (c) train since May 2010.

Chris Grayling: The expenditure for first class travel(1) by DWP since May 2010 is as follows:
	(1) There was no first-class air or boat travel undertaken in the period in question and therefore all of the above figures relate to rail travel.
	
		
			  £ Percentage r  eduction   (%) 
			 May 2010 to June 2010 934,094 — 
			 July 2010 to March 2011(1) 420,652 -55 
			 April 2011 to September 2011(2) 22,034 -95 
			 Total 1,376,781 — 
			 (1) An initial review of DWP's travel policy undertaken during this period allowed 1st class rail travel only for journeys over two hours and even then only in exceptional circumstances when a business case had been signed off by the budget holder. (2) A further review of DWP's travel policy, undertaken during this period to ensure taxpayer's money was being used in the most efficient manner, introduced an outright ban on first class travel from 4th April 2011, save for very exceptional circumstances e.g. travel by a disabled employee who cannot be accommodated in standard class. 
		
	
	It is important to note that first-class travel reduced from 24% of the total number of rail journeys in May 2010 to 0.3% in September 2011.
	DWP's business travel policy actively discourages travel, where possible, and encourages the use of video conferencing or call conferencing for meetings instead. Where travel is deemed necessary, DWP supports the use of the most cost-effective modes of transport only.
	The figures provided should be read in the context of a geographically dispersed Department of over 100,000 staff.
	Travel by civil servants is undertaken in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety. The Civil Service Management Code sets outs regulations and instructions to Departments and agencies regarding the terms and conditions of service of civil servants and the delegations which have been made by the Minister for the Civil Service under the Civil Service (Management of Functions) Act 1992 together with the conditions attached to those delegations.
	The code can be accessed at:
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/resources/civil-service-management-code
	Paragraph 8.2 of the code deals with travel and under this section Departments and agencies must ensure that staff use the most efficient and economic means of travel in the circumstances, taking into account any management benefit or the needs of staff with disabilities.

Disability Living Allowance: Coventry

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) men and (b) women aged 16 to 24 claimed disability living allowance in Coventry in (a) 1992, (b) 2002 and (c) the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Miller: The information is not available in the format requested but such information as is available is contained in the following table.
	
		
			 Disability living allowance cases in payment for 16 to 24-year-olds in Coventry local authority at February 1993, 2002 and 2011, by gender 
			 As at February: Men aged 16 to 24 Women aged 16 to 24 
			 1993 (1)200 (1)100 
			 2002 (1)300 (1)300 
		
	
	
		
			 2011 880 440 
			 (1) Numbers are based on very few sample cases and are subject to a high degree of sampling variation. Notes: 1. Figures from February 1993 and February 2002 are taken from 5% sample data. They have been up-rated to be consistent with WPLS data and are rounded to the nearest 100. 2. Figures for February 2011 are taken from WPLS 100% data and are rounded to the nearest 10. 3. Figures show the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and exclude people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. 4. Disability living allowance was introduced in April 1992, but published tables by local authority are not available prior to February 1993. Sources:  1. DWP Information Directorate: 100% Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) 2. DWP Information Directorate: Sample data (5%) (February 1993 and 2002)

Housing Benefit

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment he has made of the likelihood of implementing reforms to housing benefit by April 2013.

Steve Webb: Clause 68 of the Welfare Reform Bill will enable the introduction of size criteria for claimants receiving housing benefit in the social rented sector. From April 2013 housing benefit for working-age people who are living in a larger property than they need will be restricted. We are working closely with the Department for Communities and Local Government and others as we develop our implementation strategy. The consumer prices index measure for the local housing allowance will also be introduced from April 2013.

Housing Benefit: EU Nationals

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on assessing eligibility for housing benefit for A8 nationals.

Steve Webb: Since 1 May 2011, A8 nationals have had the same access to housing benefit as nationals of other, longer established European Union member states.
	Detailed guidance on the benefit position of A8 nationals from 1 May 2011 was made available to local authorities in a housing benefit and council tax circular, A10/2011. This circular was published in May 2011. DWP also offers further support to local authorities on such matters by operating a dedicated e-mail inquiry point.

National Insurance Contributions

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid in employers' national insurance contributions for employees aged (a) under 20, (b) between 20 and 25, (c) between 25 and 55, (d) between 55 and 60, (e) between 60 and 65, (f) between 65 and 70 and (g) over 70 years old in the latest year for which figures are available.

David Gauke: I have been asked to reply.
	Information on the amount of employer national insurance contributions payable in respect of the 2009-10 tax year by age of employee is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Age Employer NICs (£ millions) 
			 Under 20 200 
			 20-25 2,400 
			 25-55 43,300 
			 55-60 4,700 
			 60-65 2,600 
			 65-70 500 
			 Above 70 400 
			 Total 54,200 
		
	
	Estimates are based on a 1% sample of NICs and PAYE Service data and exclude Class 1A and 1B national insurance contributions.

Occupational Pensions

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) incentives and (b) options the Government are providing for short-term employees to contribute under the auto-enrolment system.

Steve Webb: The information is as follows:
	The reforms ensure that all temporary workers, whether agency workers or employees directly employed by a company on a fixed short term contract are on an equal footing for the purposes of workplace pension saving.
	Employers will be required to enrol all workers eligible(1) for automatic enrolment into a qualifying workplace pension scheme.
	To ensure a balance of costs and benefits for individuals and employers the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work review recommended the introduction of an optional three month waiting period before a worker has to be automatically enrolled as an easement for employers. Individuals who know that they want to save into a workplace pension saving will be able to opt in during the waiting period if they wish to do so.
	Eligible workers who do not opt out will benefit from a minimum 3% employer contribution(2) and tax relief which will effectively double their own contributions offering a powerful incentive to save for retirement.
	In addition workers who are not eligible for automatic enrolment but aged at least 16 and under 22 or have reached state pension age and under 75 and earning more than £5,035 will be able to opt in to workplace pension saving and qualify for an employer contribution.
	Workers earning less than £5,035 will be able to opt in to a scheme designated by their employer. Their employer may choose to make a pension contribution but is not obliged to do so.
	(1) Employers have to automatically enrol workers if they are (subject to pending legislation) someone: aged at least 22 and under pensionable age, who ordinarily works in Great Britain under the worker's contract and earns more than the earnings threshold (£7,475 in 2011-12).
	(2) The 3% contribution is payable on defined contribution arrangements. Minimum employer contributions will be phased in starting at 1%, rising to 2% from October 2016 reaching 3% from October 2017.

Pensions

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the additional number of people who will start saving towards a pension as a result of automatic enrolment into pensions at work.

Steve Webb: The Department estimates that nine to 10 million workers will be eligible for automatic enrolment into a workplace pension and that the reforms will result in five to eight million people newly saving, or saving more, in a workplace pension.
	This estimate is taken from the impact assessment for the Pensions Bill 2011:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexb.pdf
	which was published in January 2011.

Pensions: Fire Services

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department has conducted an impact assessment of the potential effect on firefighters of the provisions of the Pensions Bill [Lords].

Steve Webb: The impact assessment published when the Pensions Bill was introduced into Parliament on 13 January 2011 did not cover specific occupations. It did consider the impact of the proposed increase in state pension age for people previously employed in manual occupations.
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexa.pdf

Pensions: North Lanarkshire

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of women in Motherwell and Wishaw constituency who will spend longer in employment as a result of the legislative proposals in the Pensions Bill.

Steve Webb: The information requested is not available. However, 4,200 women in the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency will have their state pension age affected by the proposals in the Pensions Bill 2011.
	In Motherwell and Wishaw constituency in 2010-11, the employment rate of women aged 50-64 was 63.5% compared to a UK figure of 58.4%.

Social Security Benefits

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of households in receipt of out-of-work benefits for more than 12 months had (a) seven or more, (b) six, (c) five and (d) four children in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: The information requested is not available as it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to uphold the right to reside benefits test against any demand for abolition by the European Commission.

Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions is considering all the details of the European Commission's Reasoned Opinion against the right to reside test and is committed to taking the necessary steps to ensure the UK retains control of its welfare policies.
	The Government accept their responsibility in supporting EU citizens who work here and pay their taxes, but it is clearly completely unacceptable that we should be asked to open our welfare system to people who have never worked or contributed in the United Kingdom and have no intention of doing so.

Unemployment

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the percentage change in the level of unemployment has been in each local authority area since May 2010.

Chris Grayling: The DWP does not hold this information. The responsibility for this area sits with the Cabinet Office.

Unemployment: Vacancies

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of any correlation between unemployment levels and job vacancies in each region.

Chris Grayling: The following table sets out the average number of vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus each month for the three months to September 2011(1), alongside the average jobseeker’s allowance claimant count level over the same period.
	(1) The Office for National Statistics’ measure of total vacancies in the economy is not available at a regional level, and Jobcentre Plus vacancy figures are not available for Northern Ireland.
	
		
			  Three months to September 2011 
			  Average number of vacancies notified to JCP Average JSA claimant count level 
			    
			 North East 15,874 88,200 
			 North West 46,405 196,000 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 32,060 158,300 
			 East Midlands 29,292 106,667 
			 West Midlands 40,829 168,833 
			 East 31,961 115,367 
			 London 37,276 233,467 
			 South East 44,950 141,367 
			 South West 30,210 87,933 
			 Wales 17,254 77,467 
			 Scotland 25,812 145,033 
			 Source: nomisweb.co.uk 
		
	
	Jobcentre Plus vacancies will represent only a proportion of the total vacancies available in each region, as further vacancies will arise through other recruitment channels. Moreover, this proportion will vary between regions as Jobcentre Plus’s market share is not geographically uniform.

Work Capability Assessment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people subject to a work capability assessment who had been diagnosed as (a) terminally ill, (b) having Parkinson's disease, (c) having multiple sclerosis and (d) requiring open heart surgery were assessed fit for work in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: The information is as follows:
	(a) The Department considers a person to be terminally ill if they suffer from a progressive disease with a prognosis of six months or less. Those with terminal illnesses are among a small minority of claimants who are fast-tracked into the support group without having to attend a work capability assessment (WCA).
	People considered to be terminally ill by the Department are assessed to have limited capability for work-related activity and therefore cannot be assessed to be fit for work or placed in the work related activity group.
	The Department recently published an ad hoc analysis of WCA outcomes at initial assessment for employment and support allowance (ESA) claims by detailed medical condition based on the International Classifications of Diseases (ICD10). This analysis was published on 21 September 2011 and can be accessed using the following link:
	http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/index.php?page=adhoc_analysis_2011_q3
	This shows the outcomes of the initial WCA for new ESA claims starting between October 2008 and November 2010 (the latest data available), after the effect of appeals. This shows that there were:
	(b) 200 fit for work decisions out of 1,200 new claims where the primary condition was classed as Parkinson's disease.
	(c) 700 fit for work decisions out of 4,900 new claims where the primary condition was classed as multiple sclerosis.
	(d) The term 'requiring open heart surgery' is not defined by the International Classifications of Diseases (ICD10) published by the World Health Organisation; as a result we are unable to provide information in the format requested.
	Entitlement to employment and support allowance (ESA) is based on functional capabilities, not on condition per se. The medical condition recorded on a claim form does not in itself confer entitlement to ESA. So, for example, a decision on entitlement for a customer claiming employment and support on the basis of alcoholism would be based on their ability to carry out the range of activities assessed by the work capability assessment, or on the effects of any associated mental health problems. It is also important to note that, where someone has more than one diagnosis or disabling condition, only the predominant one is currently recorded.

CABINET OFFICE

Central Office of Information

Alun Michael: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  if he will publish the business case for closing the Central Office of Information;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the potential savings to the public purse from the proposed closure of the Central Office of Information; and what assessment he has made of the implications of that estimate for the conclusions of the Tee Review;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the cost implications for individual Government Departments of the closure of the Central Office of Information (COI); and what impact assessments he has made of the decision to close the COI.

Francis Maude: The closure of the Central Office of Information is part of a programme to reform Government communications as a whole. This builds on the success of the moratorium on marketing and advertising, which saw external spend through COI fall from £532 million in 2009-10 to £168 million in 2010-11 and central Government Departments cut their communications budgets by half. These reductions in spending mean that COI is no longer viable as a trading fund.
	The decision on the full package of reforms was made on the basis of the information contained in the former Permanent Secretary for Government Communication's ‘Review of Government Direct Communication and the Role of COI’ and the Government's response to this report. The original report was published on the Cabinet Office website in March and can be seen at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/review-government-direct-communication-and-coi
	Following this I made a ministerial statement on 23 June 2011, Official Report, 22WS.
	These changes will lead to cost savings in Government Departments: they will work together more closely, align activity and share resources.

Central Office of Information

Alun Michael: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether the transfer of work from the Central Office of Information to other Government Departments will be managed as a machinery of government change.

Francis Maude: The reform of Government communications and the closure of COI do not include any changes of ministerial responsibility, so therefore there is no machinery of government change.

Central Office of Information: Cardiff

Alun Michael: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the potential effects of the closure of the Central Office of Information Office in Cardiff on staff employed at that office.

Francis Maude: The closure of the Central Office of Information means that all its staff are at risk of redundancy. The Cabinet Office is working to minimise the number of redundancies.

Civil Servants: Internet

Julian Huppert: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will provide further guidance for civil servants who take part in online discussions and debates under personal social media accounts outside of their normal work areas (a) in their own names and (b) anonymously.

Francis Maude: holding answer 21 October 2011
	The guidance on the use of social media by civil servants is currently being updated to include guidance to civil servants on their participation in social media in a personal capacity. Revised guidance will be published shortly.

Civil Servants: Manpower

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many full-time equivalent civil servants there were in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; how many he expects there to be in (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13, (iii) 2013-14 and (iv) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: holding answer 21 October 2011
	Official estimates of the number of full-time equivalent civil servants are produced by the Office of National Statistics at a point in time rather than over a financial year. As such the number of full-time equivalent civil servants as at 31 March 2009, 31 March 2010 and the 30 June 2011, the latest published position, is shown in Table 1.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of full-time equivalent civil servants, 31 March 2009 to 30 June 2011 
			  Number 
			 31 March 2009 490,000 
			 31 March 2010 492,000 
			 30 June 2011 453,000 
			 Source: Public Sector Employment Statistics, ONS. 
		
	
	Cabinet Office is currently working with Departments to understand their future work force plans and projections. Information on finalised estimates of numbers of civil servants for 2012 to 2015 is not yet available but will be released in due course.

Communities First Fund: Halifax

Linda Riordan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office for what reasons Illingworth and Mixenden Ward in Halifax constituency did not qualify for funding under the Community First programme.

Nick Hurd: The aim of the Community First programme is to encourage more social action in neighbourhoods with significant deprivation and low social capital. It aims to encourage people to help others and themselves to improve the quality of life locally.
	The eligible wards for Community First were selected using the indices of multiple deprivation, cross-cut with significant job seekers allowance claimant increases at top tier local authority level. In Calderdale, the eligible wards are Eland, Ovenden, Park, Sowerby Bridge, Town and Warley. They will all receive £33,910 of match funding over four years, with the exception of Ovenden which will receive £84,775.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many meetings he has had with representatives of (a) social enterprises, (b) charities, (c) large private sector businesses and (d) small and medium-sized private sector businesses since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: I have had numerous meetings with a range of organisations since last year. Details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis with those for June 2011 to be published in due course.

Departmental Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps his Department is taking to take account of (a) socio-economic factors and (b) potential revenues for the Exchequer in the awarding of contracts.

Francis Maude: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 October 2011, Official Report, column 117W.

Employment: North East

Ian Mearns: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the change was in the number of jobs in (a) Gateshead and (b) the North East in the (i) public and (ii) private sector in each of the last four quarters.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated October 2011
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the change was in the number of jobs in (a) Gateshead and (b) the North East in the (i) public and (ii) private sector in each of the last four Quarters. (076405)
	We are unable to provide quarterly information at this level of detail. However as an alternative, public sector employment statistics for local areas can be calculated from the Annual Population Survey (APS).
	The table provided shows the change in levels of the number of people employed in the public and private sector resident in Gateshead and the North East, between the 12 month periods ending in March 2010 and March 2011. As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	In the APS the distinction between public and private sector is based on respondents' views about the organisation for which they work. The public sector estimates provided do not correspond to official Public Sector Employment estimates. Those are derived directly from employers and are based on National Accounts definitions.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1. Change in the number of people employed in the public and private sector  (1)   resident in Gateshead and the North East between 12 month periods ending in March 2010 and March 2011 
			 Thousand 
			  Private  (2) Public  (3) 
			 Gateshead -1 -1 
			 North East 6 -4 
			 (1) It should be noted that public and private sector estimates: are based on survey respondents' views about the organisation for which they work; do not correspond to the National Accounts definition used for official Public Sector Employment estimates. (2) Includes self-employed and unpaid family workers. (3) Includes nationalised industry or state corporation, central Government, civil service, local government or council (incl. police, fire services and local authority controlled schools or colleges), university or other grant funded educational establishment, health authority or NHS trust and armed forces. Source: ONS Annual Population Survey

Employment: North West

Luciana Berger: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the change was in the number of jobs in (a) Liverpool and (b) the North West in the (i) public and (ii) private sector in each of the last four quarters.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated October 2011
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the change was in the number of jobs in (a) Liverpool and (b) the North West in the (i) public and (ii) private sector in each of the last four Quarters. (76748)
	We are unable to provide quarterly information at this level of detail. However as an alternative, public sector employment statistics for local areas can be calculated from the Annual Population Survey (APS).
	The table provided shows the change in levels of the number of people employed in the public and private sector resident in Liverpool Local Authority and the North West, between the 12 month periods ending in March 2010 and March 2011. As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	In the APS the distinction between public and private sector is based on respondents’ views about the organisation for which they work. The public sector estimates provided do not correspond to official Public Sector Employment estimates. Those are derived directly from employers and are based on National Accounts definitions.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: Change in the number of people employed in the public and private sector  (1)   resident in Liverpool local authority and the North West between 12-month periods ending in March 2010 and March 2011 
			 Thousand 
			  Private  (2) Public  (3) 
			 Liverpool 6 -5 
			 North West 33 15 
			 (1) It should be noted that public and private sector estimates: are based on survey respondents’ views about the organisation for which they work; do not correspond to the National Accounts definition used for official public sector employment estimates. (2) Includes self-employed and unpaid family workers. (3) Includes nationalised industry or state corporation, central Government, civil service, local government or council (including police, fire services and local authority controlled schools or colleges), university or other grant funded educational establishment, health authority or NHS trust and armed forces. Source: ONS Annual Population Survey.

Private Rented Housing: Greater London

Tessa Jowell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people live in privately-rented accommodation in London; and what proportion of such people are (a) in full-time work, (b) unemployed, (c) aged 16 to 34 years, (d) ethnic minorities, (e) single people and (f) living in a household of more than three people.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority, I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated October 2011
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what estimate has been made of the number of people living in privately-rented accommodation in London, and what proportion of these people are (a) in full-time work, (b) unemployed, (c) aged 16 to 34 years, (d) ethnic minorities, (e) single people, and (f) living in households with more than 3 people. (76404).
	The requested estimates are derived from the Annual Population Survey (APS) person and household datasets. The latest available data are for January to December 2010. The estimates are provided in the accompanying table. These estimates are for all people aged 16 and over living in privately-rented accommodation in London, and therefore exclude children aged under 16. The estimate for 'ethnic minorities' include those who classified themselves as mixed, Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British, Chinese, or other. The estimate for 'single people' refers to those living in one-person households.
	
		
			  Number/percentage 
			 Number of people(1) living in privately-rented accommodation in London:  
			 Privately-rented accommodation (thousand) 1,544 
			   
			 Of the people aged 16 and above living in privately-rented accommodation in London:  
			 In full-time employment (percentage) 54.6 
			 Unemployed(2) (percentage) 6.2 
			 Aged 16 to 34 (percentage) 65.1 
			 In ethnic minorities(3) (percentage) 38.1 
			 Single people(4) (percentage) 11.7 
			 Living in households with more than three people(5) (percentage) 27.6 
			 (1) People aged 16 and above, excluding children aged under 16. (2) Note that unemployed proportion is not the same as unemployment rate, as the unemployment rate does not include inactive people or people under 16 in the denominator in its calculation. (3) Ethnic minorities include those who classified themselves as mixed, Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British, Chinese, or other. (4) "Single people" are those living in one-person households. (5) Households where everyone is aged 16 and above. Source: APS person and household datasets

Small Businesses

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he is taking to encourage local authorities to procure goods and services from small and medium-sized businesses.

Francis Maude: At an SME Strategic Supplier Summit held on 11 February, we announced a series of measures to make it easier for SMEs to compete for Government contracts, detailed at:
	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/government-opens-contracts-small-business
	Local authorities are responsible for their own procurement decisions, but many choose to follow central Government policies and practices. Baroness Eaton, Chair of the Local Government Group, has signalled local government support for the measures the Government announced on 11 February, particularly the use of a shortened, simplified and standard set of core questions to be used in pre-qualification.
	In addition, we are working with local government procurement organisations to make as many of their procurement opportunities as possible accessible through Contracts Finder, our one stop shop to enable suppliers to find procurement opportunities, tender documents and contracts online, free of charge.

Social Investment Market Vision and Strategy

Damian Hinds: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent representations he has received on his Department's Social Investment Market Vision and Strategy.

Nick Hurd: As Minister for Civil Society I receive numerous representations in relation to social investment, including the Department's vision and strategy, which was published in February 2011. This includes correspondence, meetings and parliamentary business.
	Work to develop the social investment market is being taken forward by a range of organisations inside and outside Government.

Social Lending

Damian Hinds: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of Big Society Bank funds he estimates will be disbursed through community development finance institutions.

Nick Hurd: The Big Society Bank will be an independent organisation, and will be responsible for making its own investment decisions based on the expected impact and quality of the investment proposal. It will invest through intermediary organisations, like Community Development Finance Institutions that provide financial and business support to civil society.
	Since the level of investment sought by Community Development Finance Institutions from the Big Society Bank is uncertain, and subsequent investment decisions will be for Big Society Bank, it is not possible or appropriate for Government to estimate the proportion of funds that will be disbursed through Community Development Finance Institutions.

Voluntary Organisations

Graham Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many (a) community networks and (b) councils for voluntary service organisations receiving public funding (i) have closed in the last 12 months and (ii) have plans to close.

Nick Hurd: We do not centrally hold specific data on closures of community networks or Council for Voluntary Service. Latest figures show that approximately 38,000 general charities receive funding from Government and we continue to work closely with partners in the sector and across government to support such organisations through the transition.

Voluntary Work

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the Access to Volunteering pilot projects undertaken in 2008-09 and 2009-10; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will publish the independent assessment undertaken of the Access to Volunteering projects; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: holding answer 21 October 2011
	Encouraging volunteering and social action is a key part of the Government's vision for a Big Society. In May 2011 the Cabinet Office published the Giving White Paper, which announced a number of measures including £40 million of funding over the next two years to support volunteering.
	An independent evaluation of the Access to Volunteering pilot was published in March 2011. The report is available at the following link:
	http://shared.freshminds.co.uk/Access_to_Volunteering _Evaluation.pdf
	The evaluation was accompanied by three documents that share good practice from the pilot, available on the Volunteering England website at:
	www.volunteering.org.uk/resources/goodpracticebank/Specialist+Themes/Disabled+People/index

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Judge Darlow

Nick Brown: To ask the Attorney-General what consideration he has given to the prosecution of the offence of misconduct in public office in the light of the rulings of Judge Darlow in the case of R v Laloi (2005).

Dominic Grieve: His Honour Judge Darlow ruled, on 19 October 2005, that there was no case to answer in relation to the charges of misconduct in public office. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was, therefore, unable to proceed on these charges.
	At the same hearing, the judge also indicated that the type of penalty he would impose on the remaining charges under the Data Protection Act 1998 would not justify a complex criminal trial. This obliged prosecutors to review the decision to proceed. The Code for Crown Prosecutors states that a public interest factor tending against prosecution is if the court is likely to impose a nominal penalty. In the light of this and applying the Code, the prosecution offered no evidence on these charges on 30 March 2006.
	The CPS queried the judge's ruling in court and subsequently sought counsel's advice on referring his rulings in this case to the Court of Appeal, through an Attorney-General's reference. The CPS was advised that the case was not suitable for referral to the Court of Appeal because the law required no further clarification.
	Section 58 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 now allows appeals of judge's rulings within a trial. This was not available at the time of these proceedings.